Admittedly, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the time of year, it's always fair game for commentary on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the series' earlier episodes to pieces. The general consensus was that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – remain, but framed of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing random tips, and supplying the odd random outburst. ("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 aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she looks content; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and gaze will be dissected and criticised, but still appears unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the example she sets appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her cooking looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to open. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she creases 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 won over, filled with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the degree of attention she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her decision to change or even tone down her persona, despite it being so constantly, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a thought that will certainly come as a comfort: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are overcome with jealousy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, hardly any child completely grasps the time and energy their parent does in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a chocolate.
