Indeed, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's always fair game for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons to pieces. The common opinion was that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements audiences anticipate – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a holiday show, the purpose becomes clear. The elements have slid perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing random tips, 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be dissected and criticised, but still appears carefree and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Because, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and over the top – but isn't that just what Christmas is about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the walk she's walking appears to be impeccably styled.
Anything she sets her mind to, she pulls off with panache. Her cooking looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she ties her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the degree of attention she has faced since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her unwillingness to modify or even moderate her routine, despite it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a point that will certainly come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. We don't have mandatory conscription in this country, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are gripped with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, no kid truly appreciates the effort and hard work their mother does in December. So you can find comfort by picturing 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, instead of a chocolate.
