Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the program's first and second seasons to shreds. The common opinion seemed to be a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback once again with a "Festive Special" (or a Christmas special). However on this occasion, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but framed of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan has become the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and supplying 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting any harm.
She understands her every micro expression, word and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. The reason is, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and over the top – but doesn't that represent just what Yuletide is all about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the walk she's walking appears to be impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with style. Her recipes looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she secures her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal 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 convinced, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced ever since she became involved with Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her decision to alter or even moderate her persona, regardless of it being so constantly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are consumed by envy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, no kid completely grasps the effort and hard work their mother puts in in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by envisioning Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a chocolate.
