Admittedly, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually open season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons apart. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a yuletide episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The standard components audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but within the context 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 eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and supplying the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 appears pleased; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and scrutinized, but still appears carefree and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Because, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and extravagant – but is that not just what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking appears to be impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is average or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this authentically. Her unwillingness to alter or even soften her shtick, regardless of it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a point that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you aren't required to. We don't have national service anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are consumed by longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a everyday person, no kid completely grasps the time and energy their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a chocolate.
