Admittedly, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's always hunting season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's earlier episodes apart. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The usual elements audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She understands her every micro expression, word and gaze will be picked apart and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. The reason is, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking appears to be impeccably styled.
Anything she attempts, she executes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the level of examination she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even moderate her shtick, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a thought that will surely come as a relief: you aren't required to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, few children completely grasps the dedication and labor their mother does in December. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a chocolate.
