Indeed, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the time of year, it's always open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The prevailing view seemed to be a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). But this time, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – are still present, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The elements have slid together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan has become the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing 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 strangely comforting. And she appears pleased; she's causing any harm.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be picked apart and criticised, but nonetheless looks carefree 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. Since, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is all about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she executes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she creates is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Nothing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she secures her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but despite that, after the level of examination she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her decision to modify or even soften her persona, despite it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. There isn't the draft these days, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are consumed by longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a royal or a office worker, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their parent expends in December. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a chocolate.
