Yes, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's always hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the program's initial installments apart. The prevailing view seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback once again with a "Festive Special" (aka a Christmas special). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The usual elements audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – remain, but set of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and supplying the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 aura is known and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears pleased; she's causing any harm.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and glance will be analyzed and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with flair. Her recipes looks tasty, the festive decoration she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to unwrap. Not a single thing is average or visually unappealing – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, filled with festive joy and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but even so, after the level of scrutiny she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable 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 not yet convinced by what she's selling, a point that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. The UK has abolished national service in this country, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are consumed by jealousy about her idyllic Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a duchess or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the effort and hard work their mother expends in December. So you can take heart by imagining the young royals' faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a chocolate.
