Admittedly, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Christmas Special.
No matter the season, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, it's different. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – remain, but within the context of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems pleased; she's inflicting any harm.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and look will be analyzed and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Because, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and extravagant – but is that not exactly what Yuletide is all about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking seems authentically impeccably styled.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her cooking looks delicious, the festive decoration she makes is stunning, her gifts are practically too exquisite to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the level of examination she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to modify or even soften her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a thought that will certainly come as a comfort: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are consumed by jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Whether you're a royal or a office worker, no kid fully understands the time and energy their mum puts in in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a candy.
