Unexpected problem at centre of Meghan’s new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan

“Despair and confusion”: A fresh - and unexpected - new problem has been exposed for Meghan after the launch of her Netflix series.

COMMENT

There were moments where I really felt for Meghan in the frenzied lead-up to the premiere of her long-awaited new Netflix series.

Five years after she quit royal duties and still yet to really stick the landing on a rebrand attempt, interest and expectation – from both the pro and anti-Meghan camps – was through the roof. Before it even aired, many people were champing at the bit to hate-watch it.

I’ve argued plenty of times in the past that this kind of show is what the Duchess of Sussex, long since cast into a royal no-man’s land, should be doing – returning to her roots.

Forget flash-in-the-pan initiatives (RIP 40x40 mentoring project) and faux-royal tours, and just focus on what she actually cared about pre-Prince Harry: cooking and lifestyle wares. The full Gwyneth.

Meghan’s show has finally premiered. Picture: Netflix

MORE:Neighbours unleash on ‘villain’ Meghan

So having now binge-watched the series with fingers crossed, I’m genuinely sorry to report that Meghan has exposed a much bigger problem for her future ambitions.

Her show is boring. It is very, very boring. Beautifully shot and clearly propped up by a monster budget – but utterly devoid of any interesting details about her or her life. At all.

Don’t get me wrong. I love glossy, completely-staged reality shows as much as the next person. But even on Selling Sunset, they’re showing some personality.

It’s actually a compliment to Meghan that I simply refuse to believe she is as completely beige as she comes across on the series. It can’t be true.

She’s lived an interesting (to say the least) life, she’s a longtime showbiz figure, she’s undoubtedly intelligent. It is for that reason that I basically shook my head in despair and confusion at the idea that Meghan, over cocktails with her two best friends at a lavish girls’ lunch on the show, would earnestly make the joke “friendship is the best ship!” and the three would guffaw as though it was high comedy.

(I myself am not kidding when I tell you that was one of the high points of episode five, featuring Meghan’s Suits co-star Abigail Spencer and longtime pal Kelly Zafjen).

Meghan with her pals, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Zafjen. Picture: Netflix

MORE:‘Fake’: New Meghan Markle lie exposed

We weren’t given much intel about what to expect from With Love, Meghan ahead of Tuesday’s premiere, just a plot description promising that it would reimagine “the genre of lifestyle programming, blending practical how-to’s and candid conversation with friends, new and old.”

On the first two points, I guess it could be argued it succeeds. The show looks gorgeous, the food delicious, the floral arrangements stunning. I am even considering adding edible flowers to my child’s meals, when my budget, intense work schedule and patience allows for it.

But “candid conversation”? In almost 264 minutes of programming, I don’t honestly think I witnessed a single, non-camera-affected exchange. Without seeing the hordes of producers and crew in the background, they could be felt in every word and action.

Which makes it boring.

Even more frustratingly, there are many moments where it almost happens.

While wrapping a gift during one little how-to, Meghan reveals: “I used to teach a giftwrapping class when I was an auditioning actress.”

That little nugget of truth, minor as it may seem, makes you want to press pause right there and ask her to talk more about that time in her life. Delve a little into her past, to understand more of the person she is today.

Instead, the show whooshes right on.

It’s a highly glossy series, and undoubtedly beautiful. Picture: Netflix

It’s ironic that after the cataclysmic fallout of Meghan’s arguably too-candid previous Netflix series, Harry & Meghan in 2022, that we’d find ourselves at the polar opposite end of the scale – but after more than two years of build-up and rebrands, that’s precisely where she’s now landed.

Certainly, there would have been almost zero tolerance from many viewers of any similarly dramatic criticisms or personal revelations about her husband’s high-profile family, and she was right to steer clear.

But the ingredient that was really missing in With Love, Meghan was just a sprinkle of candour.

The fact that she didn’t film the show in her actual mansion was absolutely piled upon by critics in the lead-up to the series, but I don’t think that’s actually an issue. Fair play to Meghan, she addressed it herself recently, explaining that their home is a “safe haven” for both she and Harry and their young kids.

But you can’t possibly hope to connect with people, and unveil the “real Meg” (finally) in a staged house with a muted personality.

Originally published as Unexpected problem at centre of Meghan’s new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan