Admittedly, it's Packed with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's always fair game for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons apart. The general consensus held that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – persist, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – providing random tips, and contributing 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 quite a personality, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she appears content; she's not doing any harm.
She understands her every micro expression, word and glance will be analyzed and judged, but still appears unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Since, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the walk she's walking appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she creates is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is mediocre or visually unappealing – including the way she fastens her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she folds wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, overcome by festive joy and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her decision to alter or even moderate her persona, regardless of it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, come what may. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you don't have to. We don't have the draft anymore, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are gripped with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a everyday person, hardly any child fully understands the dedication and labor their parent does in December. So you can find comfort by picturing the young royals' faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a candy.
