Admittedly, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments to pieces. The general consensus held that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and contributing the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems content; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, syllable and glance will be analyzed and criticised, but nonetheless looks relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Since, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and flamboyant – but isn't that exactly what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks beautifully curated.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she folds gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but even so, after the level of attention she has weathered from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. The UK has abolished national service these days, and if there were, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are gripped with envy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, few children completely grasps the time and energy their mum does in December. So you can console yourself by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a chocolate.
