With Love, Meghan review: Is the Duchess of Sussex's new Netflix lifestyle series really that bad?

Meghan Markle's Netflix show, *With Love, Meghan*, doesn't offer any groundbreaking innovation. But in reality, that wasn't the show's initial intention.

*With Love* is the latest project from Prince Harry and Meghan's 2020 deal with Netflix, aiming to "create content that informs but also gives hope." The project was previously delayed due to fires in Los Angeles. They previously launched the controversial reality show *Harry & Meghan*, two unremarkable documentaries (one about the Invictus Games and another about the concept of leadership), and a docuseries that attempted to break down stereotypes about polo, but didn't quite achieve its intended effect.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said in a statement at the time, "As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us." *With Love, Meghan* is precisely that. In the eight-episode series, Meghan cooks with chefs and famous friends, including Mindy Kaling and Abigail Spencer, and shares practical tips, from harvesting honey to assembling balloon arches.

This can be seen as Meghan returning to her pre-royal life: before meeting Prince Harry, she ran a lifestyle blog called "The Tig," which she shut down before announcing her engagement. The focus of *With Love, Meghan* is on letting go of perfection and finding beauty in the ordinary. Meghan's pursuit of this is far from as hateful or terrible as some of the scathing reviews described, some of which were even published before the series aired.

Of course, tips such as making rainbow fruit salad, elevating store-bought dips, and buying fresh flowers from the supermarket are not impressive. But Meghan is also clear about this. She once said, "It's not rocket science. Obviously, I'm not a rocket scientist." Elsewhere, she says what she does is "not that profound, but it is thoughtful." She is not a chef, but simply someone who is "comfortable in the kitchen." This makes it difficult to view Meghan's attempts to add flavor to everyday life as offensive.

Don't expect to see culinary masterpieces from the Duchess of Sussex. Or any dramatic revelations: the royal family is not mentioned, and Prince Harry only appears twice—first as a voiceover in a video of Meghan making a balloon arch, and second in the final episode, where he tells Meghan he is proud of her. However, there are some small details about life with Harry and the children, such as "I have a lot of arnica in my house, that's toddler life," and "I find that when I'm frying bacon, my kitchen is quickly filled with my husband and three dogs. It's not my perfume that attracts them, it's my bacon."

Meghan seems to be most revealing in a comment she makes in the show. She says, "I think there's something really meaningful if you break something precious and valuable, it's not broken. That breakage, that shattering, actually makes it more beautiful... If you've gone through something, you're not broken. It can be repaired."

Like polo, *With Love* has plenty of unintentional laughs due to its subject matter being extremely wealthy people. Like Meghan listening to "yacht rock," or in the fifth episode when she says, "When you go to the grocery store, sometimes you can get beautiful and affordable things." But there are also some deeper, more progressive moments. For example, chef and restaurateur Roy Choi talks in the third episode about how racism fueled the resistance to MSG and shares the history of Korean fried chicken. Vicky Tsai, founder of Tatcha skincare, digs into her family archives for her childhood favorite potsticker recipe, which she and Meghan try to recreate together in the seventh episode.

The series culminates in a brunch celebrating "the next chapter of Meghan's life," attended by Meghan's friends, her mother Doria Ragland, and "H." While it's unclear what that next chapter is, and no one says anything particularly noteworthy at the event, everything looks beautiful, and it's clear a lot of thought was put into making sure it was. Which pretty much sums up the whole series.

*With Love, Meghan* is the kind of show you put on the big screen while you're doing other things on a smaller screen. It's a series you choose when you want to relax and watch a longer version of a Nara Smith Instagram short, despite all the traditional wife tropes. And there's nothing wrong with that. *With Love, Meghan* is now streaming on Netflix.