Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's always hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons apart. The general consensus seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The usual elements audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing random tips, and supplying the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she looks pleased; she's inflicting any harm.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be picked apart and judged, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Since, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and extravagant – but doesn't that represent exactly what Christmas is for? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the life she leads seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she pulls off with style. Her cooking looks delicious, the wreath she creates is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she creases gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but despite that, after the intensity of attention she has faced since she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her refusal to alter or even tone down her persona, even though it being so persistently, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, no kid truly appreciates the time and energy their parent puts in in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by envisioning her children's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a chocolate.
