Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's always fair game for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the program's initial installments to shreds. The common opinion was that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she is back for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, it's different. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – persist, but framed of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – providing unasked-for guidance, 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 presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she appears happy enough; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She knows her all subtle gestures, syllable and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. The reason is, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but is that not exactly what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking seems authentically beautifully curated.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with flair. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is arranged in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has weathered from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to change or even soften her routine, despite it being so constantly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will always know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. We don't have the draft these days, and if there were, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are overcome with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a royal or a office worker, no kid completely grasps the effort and hard work their mum does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by envisioning Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a chocolate.