Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to pieces. The prevailing view was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback once again with a "Festive Special" (or a yuletide episode). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but framed of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she looks pleased; she's causing a bit of damage.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem unburdened and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. The reason is, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the life she leads appears to be shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but even so, after the level of scrutiny she has weathered since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her refusal to alter or even soften her shtick, even though it being so constantly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished the draft in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are overcome with envy about her idyllic Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child completely grasps the time and energy their mother does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by envisioning the young royals' faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
