Yes, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the program's first and second seasons to pieces. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (or a holiday episode). But this time, things have shifted. The usual elements we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – remain, but framed of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, utterance and look will be analyzed and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what Yuletide is about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking appears to be shop-bought.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her cooking looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are practically too exquisite to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be won over, overcome by festive joy and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the intensity of examination she has endured ever since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her unwillingness to change or even soften her persona, despite it being so constantly, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a thought that will certainly come as a relief: you aren't required to. We don't have mandatory conscription these days, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, no kid truly appreciates the time and energy their mum puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a chocolate.
