Admittedly, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's initial installments apart. The general consensus was that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, it's different. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, 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 oddly reassuring. And she looks content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her all subtle gestures, word and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but still appears carefree and serenely untroubled.
It could be this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she creates is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Not a single thing is average or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she fastens her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the level of attention she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even tone down her persona, despite it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a point that will surely come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. The UK has abolished the draft anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are gripped with envy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mother puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a chocolate.
