Yes, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's always hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to pieces. The common opinion seemed to be a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The standard components we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – are still present, but set of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan has become the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – offering random tips, and delivering 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 looks pleased; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, word and look will be picked apart and scrutinized, but still appears relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but isn't that exactly what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she ties her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the form of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but even so, after the degree of examination she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her unwillingness to change or even tone down her persona, despite it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a reminder that will undoubtedly 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 decide to tune in and are gripped with longing about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a office worker, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mother does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
