Yes, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the season, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the series' earlier episodes apart. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a yuletide episode). But this time, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – remain, but framed of a holiday show, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks happy enough; she's not doing any harm.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and look will be analyzed and judged, but still appears relaxed and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the example she sets seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but even so, after the level of examination she has faced from the moment she met Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even soften her routine, despite it being so constantly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a reminder that will certainly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription anymore, and if there were, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a royal or a office worker, hardly any child truly appreciates the dedication and labor their parent expends in December. So you can take heart by envisioning the young royals' faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a chocolate.
