Yes, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly open season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons to pieces. The common opinion was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, it's different. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – 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 quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and contributing the periodic peculiar declaration. ("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 aura is known and strangely comforting. And she appears pleased; she's causing any harm.
She understands her every micro expression, word and glance will be dissected and judged, but still appears unburdened and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and over the top – but doesn't that represent exactly what Christmas is about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the life she leads seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Not a single thing is mediocre or visually unappealing – including the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she creases gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the level of examination she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her routine, regardless of it being so persistently, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a thought that will certainly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. There isn't national service these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are gripped with jealousy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a office worker, no kid completely grasps the effort and hard work their parent expends in December. So you can find comfort by picturing her children's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a chocolate.