Admittedly, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons to shreds. The general consensus held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Christmas Special" (or a yuletide episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a Christmas special, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 a bit of a character, but her aura is known and strangely comforting. And she appears happy enough; she's not doing any harm.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be analyzed and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Since, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Admittedly, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and extravagant – but doesn't that represent just what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the example she sets genuinely looks shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her cooking looks tasty, the festive decoration she creates is gorgeous, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is ordinary or ugly – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the intensity of scrutiny she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, the love child of two legendary actresses would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her unwillingness to modify or even soften her persona, regardless of it being so persistently, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a thought that will certainly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a chocolate.
