Strap yourself in, Meghan Markle‘s new lifestyle show ‘With Love, Meghan’ is here, and it’s almost worse than you could imagine.
Despite the Duchess claiming breathlessly in the trailer ‘We’re not in the pursuit of perfection, we’re in the pursuit of joy’, viewers are already noticing it is not living up to the advertising.
The series was finally released yesterday, but it’s somehow absolutely joyless while claiming at almost every opportunity to be filled with – you guessed it – joy.
In fairness to Meghan, unlike some of her other media appearances, there is little mention of anything royal in the show.
It is unapologetically the Meghan show. Even Prince Harry himself only makes a fleeting appearance in the final episode, although it was said ‘his presence was felt behind the scenes’.
But reading between the lines, viewers will notice that Meghan, as always, manages to get a few sly digs in on The Firm.
On the last episode she says she is now entering a ‘new chapter’ in her life that is ‘part of that creativity that I’ve missed so much’.
The Duchess of Sussex also spoke about ‘healing’ something ‘broken’, after she previously accused royal aides of preventing her from expressing her true self during her time in Britain.
Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle show ‘With Love, Meghan’ has finally been released
Meghan’s friends (left to right) Heather Dorak, Prince Harry, Genevieve Hillis, Julian Zafjen, Kelly Zafjen and Meghan share a drink in the final episode
Meghan has a drink with friends Abigail Spencer and Kelly McKee Zajfen in episode five
Could Meghan be using the glamorous show to stick two fingers up at the Royal Family (and the British public) by showing them ‘look how perfect my life is without you’?
It’s hard to really know, but Meghan does seem happy with her choice to continue dining out on her Sussex title, while avoiding any of the hard work royals usually have to do.
At one point she tells The Office star Mindy Kaling not to call her Meghan Markle, saying ‘I’m Sussex now. This is our family name. Our little family name’.
There is no doubt that living in a $14million mansion while only having to make a few TV shows does sound a lot easier than the 217 royal engagements Princess Anne carried out last year.
Although Meghan and her cast of ‘friends’ (more on them later) constantly smile with their typically perfect Hollywood smiles and say how happy they are – there is something incessantly fake about the whole show.
The Guardian, usually a Sussex-friendly publication, has already come out and said the show is so pointless, it could mean the Sussexes kissing their Netflix deal goodbye.
The series attempts to give an ‘authentic’ snapshot of Meghan’s glamorous and inspirational life as she plays host while cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
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‘With Love, Meghan’ on Netflix is aimed at showing a new side to the Duchess of Sussex
There are slow-motion shots of Meghan chopping vegetables, taking dainty sips from spoons and impressing her fawning guests with basic cooking skills, all the while an upbeat guitar track jangles in the background.
Each time Meghan appears on camera, she has a full face of professional makeup, a perfectly matching designer outfit and not a single strand of hair out of place.
And despite the show promising an intimate ‘at home’ experience with the Duchess, it is actually filmed at a rented £5million mansion just around the corner.
But Meghan has defended her choice not to film a series so heavily pegged to her own lifestyle at her home by insisting it was never a viable option as she considers it a ‘safe haven’ for her ‘close-knit family’.
The constantly too-positive-to-be-true nature of the show gets grating after a while, resulting in a sanitised and repressed viewing experience.
Unlike with other reality TV shows, and in the Sussexes’ successful only show ‘Harry & Meghan’, there is no real insight into the struggles in Meghan’s life.After all, the Meghan-friendly authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie wrote in their book Finding Freedom that ‘most important to Harry, Meghan came across as authentic … He felt as though he was getting the real Meghan from day one.’
But the Hollywood rom-com life filled with joy and friendship portrayed in With Love, Meghan is nothing like the real world that the family live in.
Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland (front left) and Harry are among the guests at the party
Royal sources claim the new show could be the last roll of the dice for Harry and Meghan in a bid to strike a new deal with Netflix, following their $100million mega agreement in 2020
Prince Harry tells his wife Meghan ‘well done, you did a great job’ in the new Netflix show
The truth is that Meghan has been estranged from her father Thomas, who paid for her private education she regularly praised for teaching her so much in the show, since her wedding to Harry in May 2018.
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She is also estranged from her siblings and most of her dad’s side of the family. And since Megxit, she and Harry have also become estranged from his side of the family, with the Prince reportedly not having spoken to his brother William in years.
But you would never know that from watching With Love, Meghan, as everything is carefully curated to appear like a life of idyllic paradise – not family dysfunction.
There is another problem: Meghan can’t really cook.
Instead of a show that you might expect from a real chef, Meghan’s four-hour-long series showcases her completing a slew of fairly basic dishes anyone could find online.
And because they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Instagram is definitely the beneficiary of this show.
This is because Meghan seems absolutely obsessed with how things look, rather than how they actually taste.
Meghan appeared alongside American chef Alice Waters in episode eight
In episode six, Meghan sat down with her friends to play American Mahjong
Moment Prince Harry jumps out and scares Meghan during hike
She insists on using her fancy calligraphy to handwrite labels and constantly sprinkles edible flowers on everything – from crostinis to doughnuts.
After all, this is from a person who admits that when she gets a Chinese takeaway she tries to plate it ‘beautifully’.
The Duchess even makes the eyebrow raising claim that her and Prince Harry’s kids even like eating vegetables because she cuts them up and presents them in a nice way, saying we ‘eat with our eyes first’. Hmm, sure thing Meghan.
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In one scene she even cheesily dances alone in their kitchen by herself. Well, that is if you ignore the team of cameramen and producers directly in front of her.
Even the forced laughs come across as too sickly sweet to be real.
In one scene, while feeding her dog Guy a biscuit she made, she says ‘they provide us with unconditional love, so they get unconditional peanut butter dog biscuits’, which causes her to break out in giggles, as if she had just made a hilarious joke.
Instead of real recipes, viewers are treated to tips and tricks related to the smallest details.
For instance, use distilled water, not tap, so that your ice cubes don’t come out cloudy. ‘Simple things. Love is in the details gang’, Meghan says earnestly.
The show itself looked fairly easy to make, with internet sleuths already uncovering that Meghan has ‘borrowed’ a lot of the recipes from influencers or websites such as Pinterest.
A beaming Meghan used the show to take centre stage
MailOnline previously revealed Meghan is not using her own Montecito mansion, but instead using the kitchen of philanthropists Tom and Sherrie Cipolla
Production trucks and tents lined the driveway of a $8million property set in eight acres of avocado and lemon groves in a gated community in Montecito for filming of ‘interior and exterior dialogue scenes’
The property, an idyllic $8million estate nestled within a gated community, boasts eight acres of avocado trees and lemon groves, but it belongs not to Meghan, but to Montecito’s well-heeled Cipolla family
Meghan showed her skills to arrange flowers in episode six of the show
Another skill Meghan displayed in the show was creating a balloon arch
But despite most of it being gormless lifestyle filler, that would not be out of place on an episode of Saturday Kitchen, Meghan’s guests are always quick to praise her ‘delicious’ cooking.
Meghan says she ‘loves feeding people’ and it’s ‘probably my love language’, but it seems what she really loves is lavish praise for her meagre efforts.
The Duchess even admits she loves being able to give something to someone and hear them say ‘wow that is so good’ and knowing ‘she was a part of that’.
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And her guests are quick to oblige, constantly fawning all over her no matter what she cooks. There is also little in the way of teasing or banter, like how normal people would do with their real friends.
After all, most of her guests know that Meghan is one of the biggest stars in the world and appearing on her show is a great way to promote themselves.
When her Suits co-star Abigail Spencer appears in episode five (and Meghan condescendingly tells her how to peel the skin off a fish), Abigail makes sure to mention she has started her own floral business.
The only authenticity that comes into the show is from the professional cooks who join Meghan, such as the Korean-American chef Roy Choi.
During most of the show, Meghan leads the way, but when Choi comes along in episode three, the viewers quickly began to see how out of her depth she is.
The problem with Roy’s appearance is that he shows what an actual chef is capable of when he makes some delicious-looking Korean fried chicken with pickles.
Meghan has received a lack of professional culinary training. She is someone who has learned what she knows from Instagram posts, cookbooks and blogs – and it shows.
Daniel Martin and Meghan share a laugh in episode one of the show
Meghan extracts honey from a beehive during the first episode. Going on to use it to make cake
A 48-inch Thermador range cooker, which comes with a hefty price tag of around £15,000 can be seen in the background of many shots
During most of the show, Meghan leads the way, but when Choi comes along in episode three, the viewers quickly began to see how out of her depth she is
Meghan shows off her Hollywood smile during the filming of episode three
There is a funny moment when Choi touched a nerve with Meghan when he made the mistake of calling crudite platters ‘boring’, causing a wide-eyed Duchess to begin chopping furiously to prove him wrong.
Viewers would be forgiven for thinking ‘I wish I was watching the Roy Choi cooking show’ after he breathed fresh air into the show.
But for all its issues with authenticity, Meghan seems genuinely enthused to be making the show.
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Meghan ends the series by giving a gushing speech to her friends (including Harry) as she celebrates launching her business.
And this is what With Love, Meghan is at the end of the day. A way for the Duchess to generate cash to continue her and Harry’s life of Californian luxury.
Prior to the show’s launch, she told People magazine that starting her new business venture was ‘super joyful’ and ‘almost playing in your own sandbox’, enabling her as ‘a woman, a mom and a wife, to be able to find yourself again’.
She has come a long way from her lifestyle website The Tig, which she deleted when she got engaged to Prince Harry in 2017.
Instead, With Love, Meghan will be followed by her new brand ‘As Ever’, which will have a global product range from jams to pancake mix that will no doubt prove lucrative.
But the reviews of the show that have been published already have been almost universal in their ridicule, causing some to wonder if this will be the last show the couple make with Netflix.
Meghan sits down with the shows director, Michael Steed, while filming episode two
Royal sources have said the programme could be a make-or-break moment for Meghan and Harry as they seek to salvage a $100million deal with the streaming giant.
Since Harry and Meghan signed the mega deal in 2020, there has been one smash hit and three relative duds, sparking speculation Netflix might soon cut ties.
The biographical ‘Harry & Meghan’ was the streaming service’s biggest documentary debut, viewed in almost 29 million households in its first four days, and proved a global sensation.
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Will With Love, Meghan replicate the success of the Sussexes previous success? Not likely.
It is simply just too fake and boring for most people to sit through, but it will no doubt prove too irresistible for some viewers looking for a ‘hate-watch’ binge.
However, perhaps unexpectedly, the people most willing the show to be a success is none other than Buckingham Palace itself.
Sources told the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden in January that they want the business venture to work so Meghan doesn’t have to go back to exploiting her royal connections to make money.
But if the show flops, as it is looking likely too, we might get another Spare, this time from Meghan.
And although that will no doubt be more entertaining than this latest show, it might not be more authentic.
