Indeed, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually open season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The general consensus held that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – remain, but set of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – providing 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears content; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She knows her all subtle gestures, utterance and look will be dissected and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. The reason is, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what Christmas is for? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she sets her mind to, she executes with panache. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the wreath she makes is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or visually unappealing – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself from start to finish. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but even so, after the intensity of attention she has endured ever since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her decision to change or even moderate her routine, regardless of it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a point that will surely come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have the draft anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, no kid truly appreciates the time and energy their mum expends in December. So you can find comfort by envisioning her children's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
