Indeed, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the program's initial installments to shreds. The common opinion was that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Festive Special" (also known as a Christmas special). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The standard components audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and contributing 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she seems happy enough; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, word and glance will be dissected and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Because, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is for? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks delicious, the festive decoration she creates is stunning, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the level of examination she has endured since she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her refusal to change or even moderate her shtick, despite it being so persistently, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. There isn't national service anymore, and were it to return, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
