Admittedly, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly fair game for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's first and second seasons to shreds. The common opinion was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had seldom occurred than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Now, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a holiday episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – remain, but framed of a holiday show, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering random tips, and supplying 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems pleased; she's inflicting any harm.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and glance will be picked apart and judged, but still appears unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and over the top – but doesn't that represent exactly what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she crafts is stunning, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Not a single thing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be won over, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her unwillingness to change or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a reminder that will certainly come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished the draft these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a duchess or a data administrator, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a chocolate.
