Yes, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's constantly open season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' earlier episodes to shreds. The common opinion was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she has returned once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a Christmas special). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The standard components we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – persist, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 company is customary and strangely comforting. And she appears happy enough; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, syllable and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but doesn't that represent exactly what the holiday season is for? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is average or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but even so, after the intensity of examination she has endured ever since she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this authentically. Her decision to modify or even tone down her persona, even though it being so constantly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a thought that will certainly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished national service in this country, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child fully understands the time and energy their mother puts in in December. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a chocolate.
