It’s hard to imagine anyone being offended by Meghan Markle’s sweet and polished lifestyle series, but of course they will be.
Meghan Markle’s Netflix lifestyle show is a pretty Ina Garten-esque diversion.
Can you even talk about Meghan’s perfectly nice and unchallenging hostess show without getting engulfed by Sussex press drama?
Many an indignant headline has been written about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s pivot from frontline British royals to modern celebrities in the Hollywood bubble. The unprecedented decision to leave behind the duties of monarchy in favor of becoming regular rich and famous people with jobs has been, if nothing else, a fascinating moment in our cultural history. The Sussexes have seemingly struggled to find a foothold in being a brand, with podcasts and books offering mixed results. In fairness, establishing a new identity in the midst of ceaseless press harassment and some straight-up bigoted commentary is undoubtedly tough.
No matter what Meghan, a former actress and blogger turned Duchess, says or does, it will inspire a deluge of bad-faith clickbait. This is the woman who caused a “scandal” by shutting her own car door and eating avocado toast.
This context makes watching and reviewing “With Love, Meghan” a more perilous experience than a show like this really calls for. What should be viewed as a quaint and safe lifestyle program in the vein of Martha Stewart or the Barefoot Contessa will instead be dissected like the Zapruder film for “evidence” of the latest anti-Meghan conspiracy. The headlines for this show are already hysterical, with Meghan facing accusations that she’s pushing tradwife propaganda (an ironic claim given that the most tradwife thing one could do would be to marry a prince and have no other duties beyond pushing out a few kids and looking skinny — a thing they’re mad at her for not doing it “properly.”)
This perfectly pleasant and unchallenging show about hanging out with your friends and being a good hostess is the last thing that should be viewed as offensive or, heaven forbid, important.
In-between working on “Suits”, Meghan created her own Goop-esque lifestyle blog, The Tig, a vibe-heavy site dedicated to food, travel and strong women doing good work. It’s a field that Meghan was well-suited to and she’s clearly comfortable in this setting on “With Love, Meghan.” Styled in the ultimate clean girl wardrobe with her trademark messy bun, we see her putting together gifts for her friends, baking cakes and trying out new crafts. A visiting friend in the first episode receives some bath salts, as Meghan talks about her joy in providing for her loved ones. While Meghan is a breezy and warm presence, you can sense her caution in what she says and does. Can you blame her? She’s not saying or doing anything particularly revelatory, although casual but carefully worded asides about “the before, during and after” of her life will surely be latched onto by the usual suspects (as will the fact that Prince Harry only shows up for a brief moment in one episode.)
It’s all presented to us with polish and Instagram-ready appeal. The kitchen (not in Meghan and Harry’s house) is a Nancy Meyer dream. There’s a beehive in the garden. The music is easy-going like a Starbucks café in the mid-90s. There’s an appealing simplicity to it all. Yeah, there’s the sheer wealth porn of Meghan’s picturesque views and all the matching homeware but nothing feels particularly inaccessible. She makes beeswax candles from her own hives but, as she mentions, you can also buy all the stuff online. It makes for a good advert for her upcoming lifestyle brand but you wouldn’t need her products to do any of the things she shares (and frankly, some of these recipes look pretty damn good, such as the honey lemon cake she bakes in the first episode.)
While Meghan doesn’t have the well-worn ease of an Ina Garten or the artfully concealed ruthless efficiency of a Martha Stewart, the lifestyle game feels like a good fit for her. Banter between her and her guests, who include Mindy Kaling and Abigail Spencer, could use some work, although the overall aesthetic clearly matters more than the celebrities getting excited over jam and focaccia. It’s not subtle in its status as an ad for Meghan’s upcoming lifestyle brand, As Ever, but then again, that’s the entire purpose of influencer marketing. This is #sponcon for the Netflix age, a brand-expansion exercise for Team Sussex.
Frankly, there isn’t a massive amount to talk about with “With Love, Meghan.” You either know that this is the show for you or you’re not interested, and all of that will be wrapped up in your preconceptions of a woman who has come to symbolize more than one mere mortal ever should. This is a show that is designed to be as likeable as possible, a perfectly pleasant slice of aspirational content that wouldn’t look out of place on your TikTok page. What you see is what you get. The idea of being offended or upset by anything on display is preposterous.
But of course plenty of people will be. The think-pieces have already been churned out, grasping at straws to fuel a narrative that this woman is public enemy number one. If Meghan were married to literally any other man on Earth, “With Love, Meghan” would be a nice little show and not much else. If you’re able to extract yourself from the hurricane of anti-Sussex fury, you’ll be fine with this slice of impeccably manicured fantasy.
“With Love, Meghan” is now streaming on Netflix.