A review of 'With Love, Meghan'
The Duchess of Sussex's new series is the 'background TV' that Netflix has perfected
I set two alarms — for 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. — so I would be up, caffeinated, and ready to start watching With Love, Meghan as soon as it became available on the Netflix site. (The streaming service loads new programming at midnight in Los Angeles, which is 3 a.m. in Toronto.)
Eight episodes and a pot of coffee later, here is my take on the newest offering from Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
The good
OK, here’s the good news about With Love, Meghan:
Meghan looks great and has clearly put a lot of work into this show.
It is beautiful. The visuals are top quality. It helps to have a good set — the kitchen of that rented home where they shot the series is drool worthy
A stupendous garden showcases the bounty of California while the views from outside the house are nothing short of spectacular.
Members of the production crew are included in some episodes — that’s unusual and interesting.
The meh
Now, the meh news.
It feels “very Netflix.” The streaming service has a reputation for cooking up perfect background TV to play while cooking dinner. With Love, Meghan is innocuously bland.
There's no wow factor. The recipes, meals, and tips are … basic. The choices of what to include and what to skip over are sometimes baffling. Why does she spend so long putting jam in a small jar and then into a basket of croissants? That time would have been better spent on more how-to sections, like when she makes chili oil — she’s having fun and it shows. Don’t get me started on why she thought showing the steps of making a balloon arch would interest viewers — for a kids party that doesn’t feature kids.
The episodes when Meghan is in charge of the kitchen are the weakest of the series, especially the scenes featuring her hosting friends who compliment her every few minutes: “This is so beautiful to me,” “This is so good.” In contrast, the show at its most engaging when she’s the sous chef.
By far, the best episode is No. 3: Two kids from L.A. It features Chef Roy Choi, a local chef who is a founder of the gourmet food truck movement. He's got a great personality, is comfortable on screen, and has real chemistry with Meghan.
The second best episode is No. 7: Elevating the ordinary, which features entrepreneur Victoria Tsai having a lot of fun making potstickers (a type of dumplings), including a flip of a pan that goes wrong.
The problem with the episodes that focus on Meghan and her creations is that she doesn’t exhibit enough personality on which to hang a lifestyle show. The visual commentary needed to sustain such a show takes time to perfect. Like many celebrity hosts of lifestyle shows, she doesn’t have that magic elixir, yet.
I think a second season will be much better. Will Netflix give it to her?
The bad
For those wondering about Meghan’s reputation for being a difficult boss, there’s that moment at the 16-minute mark of Episode 2 when she suddenly snaps at her friend Mindy Kaling after the actress refers to her as “Meghan Markle.”
The background music stops as does their assembly of cucumber sandwiches as Meghan retorts, “It’s so funny you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle.’ You know, I’m Sussex now,” referencing her title as Duchess of Sussex. She keeps going: “You have kids, and you go, ‘Now I share my name with my children’ And that feels so …I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘This is our family name, our little family name.’”
“Well, now I know,” replies Mindy Kaling. Yikes.
It begs the question of why executive producer Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, included a moment in the show that featured the coldness of its host, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
For a woman with a reputation for being obsessed with every part of a project — “She has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail,” said someone close to her last year — her show includes some sloppy mistake:
Most lifestyle series begin with clear explanation of their goals: renovating a historic house, learning from chefs, etc. This has nothing. Viewers are expected to knows who Meghan is, where she is, and what this series is about.
Meghan is never identified: I looked twice and double-checked with a fellow reporter to make sure I didn’t miss it. This series assumes viewers have a lot of background information about Meghan and her family (of which, only Prince Harry and her mother, Doria, make fleeting appearances at the end of the last episode).
It feels like an experienced producer could have guided Meghan around obvious potholes. For one, there is a surprising amount of repetition. Pasta, roasted tomatoes, and parfaits are all featured at least twice in the first five episodes, while floral arranging is shown in back-to-back episodes.
Some of the advice is beyond simplistic — she suggests breaking apart a store-bought bouquet to create an arrangement tailored to your own taste (really).
Elements of the show come and go: While Chef Roy Choi is never fully ID'd on-screen though he's the star of Episode 3, friends are given complete identifications in later episodes. In addition, the series starts with no dogs, then her dog Gus suddenly appears mid-way through the eight-episode series.
I signed up for Netflix yesterday to watch With Love, Meghan. As I’d cancelled the streaming service months ago, its suggestion algorithm shouldn’t be influenced by my past viewing habits. A sign that is true is that the second category below “critically acclaimed TV shows” is “reality TV” — I loath the fake “unscripted” shows that populate so much of that category. So it’s notable that, though it was released this morning, With Love Meghan isn’t the top item in that category but in second spot behind the eighth season of Love is Blind (“single people meet, fall in love, and decide if they want to get married before ever seeing one another.”)
Rating the show
With Love, Meghan gets a 6.5 out of 10. It’s fine but forgettable.
p.s. I marked the show down 0.25 points for using a white Le Creuset cast iron pot and ordinary jars when making raspberry jam. She should have used a jam / maslin pot and proper canning jars. Yes, I’m that persnickety when it comes to correct jam-making techniques.
NOTE: This is not the post that was delayed from last week due to me forgetting to bring the needed photos (I found them!).
When I promised it would be published early this week (today), I hasn’t checked my calendar, or I would have noticed the bolded ***MEGHAN’S SHOW PREMIERES*** on the March 4 date.
You’ll get that post at the end of the week.
My latest Royal Roundup on Global TV’s The Morning Show on March 3: