Admittedly, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the program's first and second seasons to shreds. The prevailing view held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned once again with a "Christmas Special" (or a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The usual elements audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but framed of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen together; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she seems content; she's inflicting any harm.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. Since, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but doesn't that represent precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with style. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the wreath she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, overcome by festive joy and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but despite that, after the level of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of two legendary actresses would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even soften her routine, regardless of it being so constantly, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child fully understands the time and energy their parent expends in December. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
