Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the season, it's always hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Festive Special" (also known as a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's causing a bit of damage.
She is aware her all subtle gestures, utterance and look will be analyzed and criticised, but still appears relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Since, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and extravagant – but is that not just what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks beautifully curated.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but even so, after the intensity of examination she has faced from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her unwillingness to change or even soften her shtick, even though it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a reminder that will surely come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. We don't have national service anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are consumed by longing about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, few children completely grasps the time and energy their mum does in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
