Admittedly, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's always fair game for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the program's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The standard components audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but framed of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering 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 a bit of a character, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she appears content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and look will be analyzed and criticised, but manages to seem carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Because, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and flamboyant – but isn't that just what Yuletide is for? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are practically too exquisite to unwrap. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a dish in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she creases wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, bursting with festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is arranged in the form of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her unwillingness to alter or even soften her routine, regardless of it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. We don't have mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are overcome with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child completely grasps the dedication and labor their mother does in December. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a candy.
