Yes, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's always fair game for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the program's initial installments to shreds. The common opinion seemed to be a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The standard components we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but framed of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
Now, Meghan is like the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering random tips, and supplying 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 quite a personality, but her aura is known and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and glance will be analyzed and criticised, but still appears unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with flair. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she secures her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, bursting with festive joy and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is positioned in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but even so, after the level of examination she has weathered since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even moderate her shtick, even though it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her message, a reminder that will surely come as a comfort: you aren't required to. There isn't national service these days, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a royal or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the time and energy their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a candy.
