Admittedly, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's constantly hunting season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's initial installments apart. The prevailing view seemed to be a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but framed of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – offering unasked-for guidance, and delivering the odd random outburst. ("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 pleased; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, syllable and look will be picked apart and judged, but still appears carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Because, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and over the top – but isn't that precisely what the holiday season is about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with flair. Her recipes looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is stunning, her presents are practically too exquisite to open. Not a single thing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, overcome by festive joy and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has weathered ever since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of two legendary actresses would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her refusal to change or even tone down her persona, even though it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a duchess or a office worker, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mother puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
