Indeed, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly fair game for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments to pieces. The common opinion seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (or a Christmas special). But this time, things have shifted. The usual elements audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – persist, but framed of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen together; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and contributing 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks happy enough; she's causing a bit of damage.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and gaze will be dissected and criticised, but manages to seem carefree and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Because, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the life she leads appears to be shop-bought.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with style. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but even so, after the degree of attention she has endured since she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of two legendary actresses would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her decision to alter or even soften her persona, even though it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will surely come as a relief: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, few children completely grasps the dedication and labor their mother does in December. So you can console yourself by envisioning the young royals' faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
