Indeed, it's Packed with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish 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. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the series' first and second seasons to shreds. The prevailing view was that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Now, as a festive rebel, she has returned with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, it's different. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – remain, but within the context of a holiday show, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – 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 aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she appears happy enough; she's causing a bit of damage.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, word and gaze will be analyzed and judged, but manages to seem carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. The reason is, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and flamboyant – but isn't that exactly what Yuletide is about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the life she leads seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with style. Her cooking looks delicious, the festive decoration she creates is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is average or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the shape of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has faced ever since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of two legendary actresses would struggle to act this genuinely. Her decision to alter or even tone down her shtick, despite it being so persistently, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, 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. We don't have mandatory conscription anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are consumed by longing about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, few children fully understands the effort and hard work their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a chocolate.
