Admittedly, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's initial installments apart. The general consensus held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back for another round with a "Christmas Special" (or a Christmas special). However on this occasion, it's different. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen 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 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks pleased; she's not doing any harm.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but still appears unburdened and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent exactly what Yuletide is about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the life she leads appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her cooking looks delicious, the wreath she creates is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Nothing is average or visually unappealing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any cynical observer not be won over, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced since she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her persona, despite it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a thought that will surely come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished the draft anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are overcome with longing about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, few children truly appreciates the time and energy their mother does in December. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
