The reviews are in, and it’s fair to say that Meghan’s make-or-break Netflix show has received a universal drubbing.
Variety, a prominent Hollywood publication, was particularly scathing in its review of ‘With Love, Meghan’, succinctly stating that the show is crafted with self-love being the central theme.
Despite being recognized as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2021, the Sussexes were criticized for appearing uninteresting, with even The Guardian, known for its critical stance on the Royal Family, describing the show as cringeworthy.
But where does this leave the Sussexes and their rumoured $100 million deal with the streaming giant, following a string of flops?
The series currently holds the sixth spot for the most-watched Netflix show in the UK. Its popularity can be attributed to the curiosity of viewers wanting to see for themselves what all the commotion is about, resulting in a phenomenon known as the ‘rubber-necking’ effect.
How long it will stay in the charts and, crucially, if people will stay to watch all eight episodes of her series remains to be seen.
Variety
Variety’s Daniel D’Addario writes: ‘In his one appearance on the series, Prince Harry, Meghan’s husband, calls out a toast. ‘To you!’ he shouts. To Meghan, indeed.
Meghan’s make-or-break Netflix show has received a universal drubbing, writes Rebecca English
Meghan Markle pictures in Episode 8 of With Love, Meghan
Meghan Markle pictured with Drew Barrymore in With Love, Meghan
With Love, Meghan is made with a great deal of love – in the sense that the greatest love of all is the one that a person has for herself.’
The Guardian
Guardian reviewer Chitra Ramaswamy wrote: ‘Oh God, it’s toe-curling stuff… what With Love, Meghan vibrates with most is a vacuous, over styled joylessness.’
She concluded: ‘It’s the lack of humour, irony, self-awareness…that makes With Love, Meghan so unlovable in the end.’
Rotten Tomatoes
The show has slumped to a miserly 29 per cent average critics score on the influential US site.The wider collective audience score was just 12 per cent.
One critic says it is a ‘disappointment for those of us hoping for something more authentic’.
Time
Critic Judy Berman remarks that the show tries to present Meghan as ‘a supermom in earth-tone cashmere and designer denim’, and ‘an extremely special person who would never be so gauche as to point out her specialness’.
Daniel Martin and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in With Love, Meghan
She adds: ‘Now that they’ve escaped the Firm, it’s as though the Sussexes have constructed an equally rigid propaganda machine to serve their purposes rather than those of the Crown.’
Hollywood Reporter
Meghan’s hometown journal calls the show an ‘unrelatable lavish lifestyle series’.
It writes: ‘Audiences will have learned three things about host Meghan Markle: she takes pride in making breakfast for her family, her favorite tunes are ’70s soft rock, yacht rock and French
dinner party music, and she no longer wishes to be referred to as Meghan Markle.’
The Times
The Times’s two-star review called With Love, Meghan ‘smug, syrupy and endlessly spoofable’, with reviewer Carole Midgley writing: ‘If you thought… that you would rather fry your eyeballs than sit through it, I have news for you. It is so much worse than that.’
She adds: ‘Here is a duchess presenting her extreme wealth and mind-bogglingly exclusive lifestyle as if it is available to anyone who cares enough to pop a twee personal label on a homemade beeswax candle or lay a sprig of fresh lavender on a towel.’
The Telegraph
Giving it two stars, The Telegraph describes it as ‘an exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs’. Anita Singh writes: ‘Meghan is welcoming to everyone, which you will know unless you are her father, her siblings, her father-in-law, her stepmother-in-law, her brother-in-law, her sister-in-law, 99 per cent of her husband’s old friends or Piers Morgan.’
She adds: ‘Other episodes feature… farm-to-table pioneer Alice Waters. Meghan didn’t know Waters beforehand but love-bombs her to the point where Waters looks faintly alarmed, as if she’s seen Misery with Kathy Bates and is worried about getting snowed in.’
The Independent
A one-star review which finds Meghan’s ‘earnestness will grate on more cynically-minded viewers. Everything she does is couched in some sort of uplifting, easily digestible life lesson.’
It continues: ‘The show simultaneously strains for aspiration and relatability in a way that never gels.’
Spectator
Reviewer Alexander Larman said: ‘There is a tangible desperation here, a visceral sense of need and desire for this show to bring Meghan back into the spotlight, not as the wounded victim of a thousand negative headlines, but as the perky, all-American tradwife that her advisors have doubtless told her the public are receptive to.
‘So she will cajole her children on screen, and rent a £5million house to do the filming in, and produce Instagram content by the truckload.’
Radio Times
Caroline Frost says: ‘This isn’t the most offensive TV show in the world… but Brooklyn Beckham needn’t worry about giving up his chef’s hat just yet.’
