Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the program's earlier episodes apart. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
Now, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – providing 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 aura is known and strangely comforting. And she appears content; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She knows her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is for? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks beautifully curated.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she creates is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is average or ugly – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, filled with festive joy and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the level of scrutiny she has weathered ever since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her refusal to change or even soften her routine, despite it being so persistently, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a thought that will surely come as a comfort: you don't have to. The UK has abolished the draft anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are gripped with envy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a office worker, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their parent does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.