Yes, it's Packed with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the series' earlier episodes to pieces. The prevailing view was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Festive Special" (or a holiday episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering random tips, and delivering 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 quite a personality, but her aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she appears content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her every micro expression, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Yuletide is about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her cooking looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she creates is breathtaking, her presents are practically too exquisite to open. Nothing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but even so, after the degree of examination she has endured since she met Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would struggle to act this authentically. Her refusal to modify or even tone down her routine, regardless of it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. There isn't the draft in this country, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are overcome with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mum puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a candy.
