Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The prevailing view held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (also known as a yuletide episode). But this time, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
Now, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unasked-for guidance, and contributing 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks happy enough; she's causing any harm.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, syllable and gaze will be analyzed and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. The reason is, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but is that not just what Yuletide is for? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the life she leads genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she pulls off with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she creates is breathtaking, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be won over, filled with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the form of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the level of examination she has weathered ever since she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her decision to change or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so persistently, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have national service these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are consumed by envy about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a royal or a office worker, few children fully understands the effort and hard work their parent expends in December. So you can console yourself by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a candy.
