Indeed, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's constantly open season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons to shreds. The general consensus seemed to be a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback once again with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a holiday episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and contributing 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 aura is known and strangely comforting. And she seems pleased; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her every micro expression, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and extravagant – but isn't that just what Christmas is for? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the life she leads seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Nothing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered since she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her refusal to alter or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so constantly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are overcome with jealousy about her idyllic Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the time and energy their parent does in December. So you can console yourself by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a sweet treat.
