Indeed, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons apart. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Festive Special" (also known as a Christmas special). Yet now, things have shifted. The standard components audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come together; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – providing random tips, and supplying 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and over the top – but is that not exactly what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads appears to be shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she executes with flair. Her cooking looks delicious, the festive decoration she makes is stunning, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, filled with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this genuinely. Her refusal to modify or even soften her persona, regardless of it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a reminder that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. We don't have mandatory conscription in this country, and if there were, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are overcome with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a everyday person, hardly any child completely grasps the effort and hard work their mother puts in in December. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
