Admittedly, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly fair game for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the program's first and second seasons to shreds. The general consensus was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be analyzed and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and extravagant – but is that not precisely what the holiday season is about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking appears to be beautifully curated.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her recipes looks tasty, the wreath she creates is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, bursting with festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the shape of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but even so, after the level of attention she has weathered ever since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her unwillingness to modify or even soften her persona, despite it being so persistently, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. There isn't the draft in this country, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you choose to watch and are consumed by longing about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a everyday person, hardly any child fully understands the effort and hard work their mum does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by envisioning the young royals' faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a chocolate.