Admittedly, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's perpetually fair game for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The general consensus seemed to be a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – remain, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and supplying 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she looks happy enough; she's inflicting any harm.
She knows her every micro expression, word and glance will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. The reason is, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically beautifully curated.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with flair. Her recipes looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she crafts is stunning, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Not a single thing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the degree of examination she has faced ever since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this authentically. Her refusal to alter or even moderate her persona, even though it being so constantly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will always know our position with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. There isn't national service anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with envy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the time and energy their mum does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by imagining the young royals' faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
