Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's perpetually hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the series' earlier episodes apart. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned for another round with a "Festive Special" (aka a holiday episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The standard components we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – offering unasked-for guidance, 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she seems happy enough; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, word and look will be picked apart and judged, but manages to seem carefree and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Since, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but is that not precisely what Christmas is about? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her cooking looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is mediocre or visually unappealing – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, filled with festive joy and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the shape of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced ever since she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her decision to change or even soften her routine, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. There isn't the draft in this country, and if there were, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a royal or a everyday person, few children truly appreciates the time and energy their parent puts in in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
