Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually fair game for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the series' first and second seasons to shreds. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (or a Christmas special). But this time, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – remain, but framed of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – providing unasked-for guidance, and supplying the periodic peculiar declaration. ("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 strangely comforting. And she appears happy enough; she's inflicting any harm.
She is aware her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be dissected and criticised, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but is that not precisely what Christmas is for? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with style. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the wreath she creates is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to tear into. Not a single thing is mediocre or visually unappealing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the level of scrutiny she has endured ever since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her refusal to alter or even soften her persona, regardless of it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a reminder that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service in this country, and were it to return, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are consumed by jealousy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, few children truly appreciates the time and energy their mum does in December. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a sweet treat.
