Admittedly, it's Packed with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's first and second seasons to shreds. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she is back for another round with a "Festive Special" (aka a Christmas special). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The standard components audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan has become the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – providing 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she appears content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, syllable and gaze will be analyzed and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Because, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but doesn't that represent just what Yuletide is for? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the life she leads seems authentically beautifully curated.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks delicious, the wreath she creates is breathtaking, her gifts are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is average or visually unappealing – even the way she fastens her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, overcome by festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but even so, after the intensity 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 refusal to change or even tone down her shtick, despite it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will always know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. There isn't mandatory conscription in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a duchess or a data administrator, no kid truly appreciates the dedication and labor their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a candy.
