Admittedly, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The general consensus held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Festive Special" (also known as a holiday episode). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – remain, but within the context of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – providing 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting any harm.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, syllable and look will be dissected and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is all about? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with panache. Her recipes looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she creates is stunning, her gifts are practically too exquisite to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. 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 won over, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but despite that, after the level of scrutiny she has weathered ever 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 decision to modify or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a royal or a office worker, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mother expends in December. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
