Yes, it's Packed with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. But I Do Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the series' earlier episodes apart. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan is like the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and supplying 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she appears content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, syllable and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but nonetheless looks carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Because, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but isn't that precisely what Yuletide is all about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she creases gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with festive joy and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the form of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but even so, after the level of attention she has faced ever since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to modify or even tone down her persona, even though it being so persistently, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. We don't have the draft in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with longing about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing her children's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a chocolate.
