Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the program's first and second seasons to shreds. The common opinion was that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a holiday episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but framed of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – offering unasked-for guidance, and contributing the odd random outburst. ("I love spinach!" … "A tradition has to have a beginning." … "A tree is part of my memory and love of the holiday season.") She's quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she seems content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is about? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she ties her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is arranged in the form of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the intensity of examination she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even moderate her persona, despite it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a royal or a office worker, no kid fully understands the time and energy their mother puts in in December. So you can console yourself by envisioning her children's faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
