Indeed, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the time of year, it's always hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The prevailing view was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (or a holiday episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The usual elements we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – are still present, but framed of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she looks happy enough; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and glance will be analyzed and criticised, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. The reason is, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and over the top – but doesn't that represent just what the holiday season is for? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the example she sets appears to be impeccably styled.
Whatever she attempts, she pulls off with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she makes is stunning, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is average or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with festive joy and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has faced since she became involved with Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this genuinely. Her unwillingness to change or even tone down her routine, despite it being so persistently, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and if there were, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child fully understands the effort and hard work their parent puts in in December. So you can console yourself by imagining the young royals' faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a chocolate.
