Admittedly, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the season, it's constantly hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the program's initial installments apart. The prevailing view was that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a yuletide episode). Yet now, it's different. The standard components we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The elements have slid together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan resembles the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – providing 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she looks pleased; she's not doing any harm.
She knows her all subtle gestures, word and look will be dissected and judged, but nonetheless looks carefree and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Yuletide is for? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with style. Her recipes looks tasty, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her gifts are practically too exquisite to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – including the way she ties her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, filled with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the form of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the degree 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 alter or even soften her shtick, regardless of it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her message, a thought that will certainly come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have the draft anymore, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are gripped with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, hardly any child fully understands the dedication and labor their parent puts in in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
