Yes, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the season, it's perpetually open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to pieces. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she is back with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (aka a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – remain, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and delivering 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 strangely comforting. And she seems pleased; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem carefree and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and flamboyant – but is that not just what the holiday season is about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with panache. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the wreath she makes is gorgeous, her gifts are practically too exquisite to tear into. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but even so, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even soften her routine, despite it being so persistently, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are gripped with envy about her idyllic Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child truly appreciates the time and energy their mum puts in in the holiday season. So you can take heart by envisioning the young royals' faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
