Admittedly, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the season, it's constantly hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the program's first and second seasons apart. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The usual elements we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan has become the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she looks pleased; she's not doing any harm.
She knows her all subtle gestures, utterance and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent just what Christmas is about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking seems authentically beautifully curated.
Anything she sets her mind to, she pulls off with style. Her cooking looks tasty, the wreath she makes is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Not a single thing is average or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she creases wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, filled with festive joy and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the form of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but even so, after the level of attention she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her unwillingness to modify or even soften her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and if there were, it would be improbable to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are consumed by jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a duchess or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the time and energy their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a chocolate.
