Admittedly, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly hunting season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the program's first and second seasons apart. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a holiday episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but set of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The elements have slid together; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be picked apart and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Because, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and extravagant – but isn't that just what Christmas is for? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks beautifully curated.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with flair. Her recipes looks delicious, the festive decoration she creates is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the level of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even tone down her persona, regardless of it being so constantly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and if there were, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mother puts in in December. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
