Yes, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the program's first and second seasons to shreds. The prevailing view held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The standard components audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but set of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan resembles the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – offering unasked-for guidance, 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 company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she looks content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be picked apart and judged, but manages to seem carefree and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. The reason is, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and over the top – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is for? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with flair. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a dish in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, overcome by festive joy and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has endured ever since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her decision to modify or even soften her shtick, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you don't have to. There isn't the draft these days, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are gripped with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, few children completely grasps the time and energy their parent expends in December. So you can take heart by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a candy.
