Indeed, it's Packed with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's perpetually open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). But this time, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but within the context of a holiday show, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and contributing 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 company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she seems pleased; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She understands her every micro expression, utterance and gaze will be dissected and scrutinized, but still appears unburdened and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. The reason is, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and extravagant – but isn't that exactly what the holiday season is for? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with flair. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she creates is stunning, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – even the way she secures her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the level of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her unwillingness to change or even tone down her persona, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. We don't have the draft anymore, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, few children completely grasps the dedication and labor their parent does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
