Yes, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when eagerly tearing the lifestyle show's first and second seasons apart. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The standard components we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – remain, but set of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – providing unasked-for guidance, and contributing the odd random outburst. ("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 seems pleased; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – may well be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, nonsense and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what Yuletide is for? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the example she sets appears to be impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is mediocre or ugly – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself from start to finish. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is positioned in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even soften her persona, regardless of it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a point that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you aren't required to. We don't have national service in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a royal or a data administrator, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by envisioning her children's faces when they reveal a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
