With Love, Meghan gave viewers a strange look into the world of Meghan Markle post-royalty, and while I was underwhelmed with the show itself, I’m hoping there will be more from the series. Meghan, who was quick to correct guest Mindy Kaling on her surname now being Sussex rather than Markle, has been in the news consistently for her new series. Sharing the joys of creating her show and opening herself up to an audience who may only know her as the central figure of the most compelling royal drama of the century, Meghan’s new Netflix show revealed a lot.
While Netflix’s logline of the series reveals that the show sees Meghan inviting “friends and famous guests to a beautiful California estate, where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips”, Meghan’s doing a lot more than simply sharing space and time with her esteemed guests. Throughout the 8 episode order, Meghan offers insights into what her life is like after one of the most highly covered and widely analyzed international incidents in the last century without necessarily meaning to do so. Meghan’s tips and tricks may appear lackluster or uninspired in some episodes, but they reveal something more interesting underneath.
Meghan’s normal may not be the same as mine, but With Love, Meghan allowed me to take a break…and indulge.
With Love, Meghan Is In A Genre Of Its Own
It’s A Lifestyle Lookbook
Although With Love, Meghan primarily stylizes itself as a cooking show, the series moves away from the stereotypical format with the integration of other lifestyle elements. Meghan, who genuinely appears to know something about everything, works throughout each episode to create beautiful meals, tablescapes, decorations, and experiences for her guests. Thoughtful in a way that is at times surprising, With Love, Meghan is more of a lifestyle lookbook than anything we’ve seen on Netflix before. Meghan always shares what she’s done with members of the crew working around her, and while her lifestyle may not be readily attainable, she’s happy.
Critics Are Ripping The Show Apart For A Lack Of Charm
Meghan’s Jane-Of-All-Trades Endeavors Don’t Always Land
Meghan approaches everything on With Love, Meghan with an unsurprising degree of curated vulnerability, but manages to stay refreshing. While Meghan is sharing herself in a reserved way, it feels like she thinks she’s giving a closer look at her life than she actually is. The series is being panned for a lack of charm and authenticity, though the messaging surrounding the show has been all about how authentic, charming, and personal it is. While the show appears to be coming directly from Meghan’s Montecito home, the set is a rental, which casts a disingenuous light across the whole series.
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Although there are moments throughout With Love, Meghan that do feel true to Meghan herself, they are often played down for the wow-factor of the end products she’s creating. Leaning into Meghan’s true personality doesn’t feel like an option to genuinely share, so offering a shiny off-kilter version of her highlight reel often takes precedence. A review in Time explained it’s “a polite but distant dispatch from a rented kitchen down the road in lieu of truly welcoming us into her life.” Though Meghan has tried to share an authentic version of herself, it’s clear there’s more to her story.
With Love, Meghan Can Be Tone Deaf At Times
She’s Often Out Of Touch
While it’s obvious that Meghan, the literal Duchess Of Sussex, isn’t in touch with the same sense of reality that most of us are, I was surprised to see just how out of touch she felt throughout the series. With Love, Meghan offers a look into the world that Meghan lives in, but the disconnect between her world and the world most of her viewers live in is a chasm that isn’t easy to bridge. I’m sure some, including myself, tuned in to see Meghan in her natural element, but realizing her world is deeply unattainable was a surprising struggle.
There were bright spots for me, within the moments of out of touch crafting, cooking, and creating. Meghan’s ability to talk through her processes was pristine and her strengths came from showing how deeply she cares about the things she’s doing or the people she’s with, but ignoring the fact that Meghan’s station in life is far beyond the average viewers’ was a misstep. Not calling out the fact that Meghan and her guests aren’t, for lack of a better term, normal everyday people made their aspirational content feel like more of an attack than an offering in moments.
I’m Underwhelmed By With Love, Meghan – But Hoping For More
Her Lifestyle Should Be Unattainable
Although I found a lot of With Love, Meghan to be flat and unattainably aspirational, one of the things I loved about the show was seeing Meghan’s version of normal. While Meghan has been upfront about keeping her children’s lives as private and normal as possible, her life is anything but when she’s in front of the camera or in the press. Had With Love, Meghan embraced its elements of unattainable aspiration and made it clear that Meghan’s lifestyle isn’t something anyone else can lead, I think the show would’ve felt a lot more authentic.
Regardless of the criticism, I’m hoping to see more of With Love, Meghan in the future. Some may not have enjoyed Meghan’s delightfully out of touch ideas, touches of kindness with every dish or table setting, and moments of curated whimsy, but in a way, I loved seeing what she came up with. Meghan’s normal may not be the same as mine, but With Love, Meghan allowed me to take a break from the realities we all deal with day-to-day and indulge in a lifestyle I can only dream of. That, in essence, is everything I could ask for.
With Love, Meghan is available to stream on Netflix.
Sources: Netflix, Netflix/Instagram, Time
