Indeed, it's Full of Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Cherish Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the season, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons to pieces. The prevailing view seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but framed of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – offering 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks happy enough; she's causing a bit of damage.
She is aware her every micro expression, utterance and look will be analyzed and judged, but still appears relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Since, in all honesty, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and flamboyant – but is that not exactly what Christmas is for? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Nothing is average or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, overcome by festive joy and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but even so, after the degree of examination she has weathered ever since she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her decision to change or even tone down her persona, despite it being so constantly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will surely come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. We don't have mandatory conscription anymore, and if there were, it would be improbable to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with longing about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their parent puts in in December. So you can find comfort by picturing Archie and Lilibet'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 candy.