Yes, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's always fair game for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to pieces. The general consensus held that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unasked-for guidance, and delivering 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 unexpectedly soothing. And she seems happy enough; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Since, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and over the top – but is that not exactly what the holiday season is about? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the life she leads genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she executes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she makes is gorgeous, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even moderate her routine, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a thought that will surely come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are overcome with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, few children fully understands the time and energy their parent puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a candy.