Admittedly, it's Packed with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the program's earlier episodes to pieces. The general consensus seemed to be a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context of a Christmas special, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing random tips, and delivering 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she seems happy enough; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – may well be true. Because, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but isn't that just what the holiday season is for? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she makes is stunning, her presents are practically too exquisite to open. Nothing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she secures her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but even so, after the intensity of attention she has faced from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her unwillingness to modify or even tone down her persona, even though it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have mandatory conscription anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are gripped with longing about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a data administrator, no kid fully understands the time and energy their mother does in December. So you can take heart by imagining her children's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a candy.
