Indeed, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's always hunting season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the program's earlier episodes apart. The general consensus held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The standard components we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but within the context of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – offering random tips, and delivering 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 presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems pleased; she's not doing any harm.
She knows her every micro expression, word and glance will be analyzed and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Since, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and extravagant – but is that not just what Christmas is for? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the life she leads appears to be beautifully curated.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with style. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is gorgeous, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Nothing is average or visually unappealing – even the way she fastens her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she creases gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her unwillingness to alter or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have national service anymore, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their parent puts in in December. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
