Indeed, it's Packed with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually open season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back once again with a "Festive Special" (or a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but set of a holiday show, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – offering unasked-for guidance, and delivering the odd random outburst. ("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 strangely comforting. And she seems content; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her all subtle gestures, word and look will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Because, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what the holiday season is for? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are practically too exquisite to open. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – including the way she ties her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the form of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but despite that, after the intensity of attention she has faced from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her refusal to change or even tone down her routine, regardless of it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. We don't have national service these days, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a office worker, hardly any child fully understands the effort and hard work their mum puts in in December. So you can take heart by picturing her children's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
