Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's always open season for commentary 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 series' first and second seasons to pieces. The prevailing view held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but set of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering random tips, 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 a bit of a character, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, syllable and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but still appears relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is for? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with style. Her recipes looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", 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 convinced, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her decision to modify or even tone down her persona, despite it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you aren't required to. There isn't national service these days, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are consumed by jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a royal or a office worker, no kid fully understands the time and energy their mother expends in December. So you can find comfort by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a candy.
