Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the season, it's constantly open season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes apart. The prevailing view seemed to be a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). But this time, it's different. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – remain, but within the context of a holiday show, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
Now, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – offering unasked-for guidance, and supplying 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 aura is known and strangely comforting. And she appears pleased; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She is aware her every micro expression, syllable and gaze will be picked apart and criticised, but manages to seem relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. The reason is, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but is that not precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks delicious, the wreath she creates is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to open. Nothing is average or visually unappealing – even the way she fastens her apron is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be won over, filled with festive joy and left with a intense desire for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, obviously, but despite that, after the intensity of attention she has faced since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her unwillingness to modify or even soften her routine, even though it being so persistently, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a reminder that will surely come as a comfort: you aren't required to. There isn't mandatory conscription anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a royal or a everyday person, few children fully understands the effort and hard work their mum puts in in December. So you can find comfort by imagining her children's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a chocolate.
