Admittedly, it's Full of Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the season, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the series' earlier episodes to shreds. The prevailing view held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). But this time, it's different. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but framed of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – offering random tips, 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 quite a personality, but her aura is known and strangely comforting. And she seems pleased; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and over the top – but doesn't that represent just what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks tasty, the wreath she makes is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered since she became involved with Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her decision to modify or even soften her routine, despite it being so constantly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will surely come as a relief: you aren't required to. We don't have the draft anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her idyllic Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, hardly any child completely grasps the time and energy their mother puts in in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining her children's faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a chocolate.