Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually hunting season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The common opinion was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a holiday episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – remain, but within the context of a yuletide episode, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and contributing 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 oddly reassuring. And she appears happy enough; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, word and gaze will be picked apart and scrutinized, but still appears carefree and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be laughable, but the life she leads seems authentically impeccably styled.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she creates is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Nothing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she ties her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she creases 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 intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but even so, after the degree of examination she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her shtick, even though it being so persistently, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will forever know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have the draft these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their parent puts in in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by envisioning her children's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a candy.
