Indeed, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's always open season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes apart. The prevailing view seemed to be a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back once again with a "Festive Special" (aka a holiday episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering unasked-for guidance, and delivering the odd random outburst. ("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 aura is known and strangely comforting. And she appears pleased; she's not doing any harm.
She understands her every micro expression, word and look will be analyzed and judged, but nonetheless looks carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and over the top – but is that not exactly what Yuletide is about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the example she sets seems authentically beautifully curated.
Anything she attempts, she executes with style. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to open. Not a single thing is average or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, overcome by festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but even so, after the intensity of examination she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this genuinely. Her unwillingness to alter or even soften her routine, even though it being so constantly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will surely come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription these days, and if there were, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a data administrator, hardly any child completely grasps the dedication and labor their parent puts in in December. So you can console yourself by envisioning her children's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a chocolate.
