Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show is an antidote for today’s harsh political reality

In Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, she pads around barefoot while turning everyday household items into objects of beauty.

She even fills her own tea bags to brew sun tea. It’s a sun-splashed, calming program. I haven’t finished the first season, but I already plan on rewatching because I keep missing scenes when I fall asleep to it.

Released March 4, it’s a timely antidote for our current harsh political reality. Meghan, who pointed out on the show that she uses Sussex as her last name now, is married to Harry, Duke of Sussex, and lives in Montecito, Calif., with their two children. Hers is a decidedly different reality than the one the rest of us mere mortals inhabit.

There’s not much most of us can do about the dumpster fire raging in Washington, D.C., besides protest and pressure our members of Congress to intervene as President Donald Trump and unelected billionaire Elon Musk dismantle critical government programs and offices, while also laying off tens of thousands of federal workers and pushing back on diversity, equity, and inclusion, among other things.

I am part of the 92% demographic that proudly voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Black women weren’t able to carry the election, but we did our part.

So excuse me while I curl up on my couch and let Meghan teach me how to live a soft life. I am done with marching, at least for now, and this is a much-needed distraction from cable news talking heads. Watching her painstakingly decorate a homemade honey lemon cake with fresh raspberries and hand-mix bath salts for an overnight guest relaxes me.

I don’t find With Love, Meghan unrelatable. Granted, most kitchens aren’t as nice as the one she films in, but she makes skillet spaghetti in the first episode. What’s high-end about that? In another, she uses a cookie cutter to cut finger sandwiches.

All of this domesticity has me looking around my own house differently. Suddenly, I am thinking of planting berries in my own backyard and canning my own fruit preserves. Will it ever happen? Not likely. But so what?

This is a much-needed distraction from cable news talking heads

Meanwhile, the Meghan bashing is out of control. You would think the former Suits actress had committed a crime instead of living out a real-life fairy tale of marrying a handsome prince in 2018.

People are still mad because she got handed the keys to the royal castle and said, “No, thank you.” She took her prince and moved back to America. Now she’s living her best life, and they can’t take it.

Her detractors will never admit that, though. Instead, they nitpick. She’s inauthentic. Why doesn’t she have a relationship with her dad? She’s no chef. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. To me, that translates into: She’s not worthy. She doesn’t deserve the fame and attention she’s getting. Who does she think she is?

Some members of the we-hate-Meghan club need DEI sensitivity training. I get the sense that some of the same people who refused to vote to elect the nation’s first female president also have a problem with Meghan. Why do you think that is? No other member of “the firm” attracts nearly the same level of vitriol.

Meanwhile, I can’t get enough of With Love, Meghan. Netflix has already renewed it for a second season. It has its flaws, but it will continue to be my guilty pleasure. After all, as Meghan points out on the show, life is about pursuing joy, not perfection. Flower sprinkles, anyone?