As Ever Part 6: Definitely NOT a trad wife

[Strudie]

Previous thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/5286597-as-ever-part-v-two-stunt-lemons-with-love-meghan

Carry on! Reviews from the US are trickling in, so far, not so good - https://variety.com/2025/tv/reviews/with-love-meghan-markle-netflix-duchess-of-sussex-1236327469/

It is a major issue that the products aren't available. You would want people to be able to watch the show and immediately click to buy. It's already been delayed for two months so there really is no excuse. The products should have been ready since January, since the delay itself was announced last minute. Presumably someone thought 'this will allow time for everything to calm down and get the online shop all ready'. Wrong on both counts!

Having seen the reference to 'Mama's meals' I'm also now wondering if there was a plan to try and use that as a brand somehow? It doesn't sound like a phrase you'd actually use at home.

I don't really understand why NF delayed this. I don't believe it was due to the fires. The products aren't ready to sell. My feeling is that NF were originally trying to bury this as it is a cringe fest and NF felt embarrassed. Their original showcasing of this was very muted, although the trailer and sneak peaks were hardly inspiring. Maybe Meghan pissed someone off and they decided to let her hang herself to save renewing any contracts. None of this makes any sense to me.

I agree. Might be worth checking if Mama's meals has been trademarked. Sounds like bad baby food.

From Decider - not sure if this was posted earlier:

https://decider.com/2025/03/04/with-love-meghan-markle-netflix-review/

They recommend to skip it.

BTW, the egg shortage is around the country. My Target is in NYC:

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/28/g-s1-51270/egg-prices-usda-bird-flu

The guardian have had three reviews. All damning. All very funny.

I went on NF to look at what I am being recommended. Baring in mind that the Harry and Meghan docusoap was heavily pushed, there is no hint of WLM. In today's UK top 10, there is not a whiff of WLM. However 2nd is a new series called "Running Point" starring Kate Hudson but written by Mindy Kaling. I did wonder what the jeff MK was doing on WLM. I wonder if there is a link.

There are lots of new series released today and coming soon. Interesting.

And The Guardian has been mildly positive about the Sussexes until now...

Isn’t her LLC ‘Mama Knows Best’?

I’ve just watched a bit of it - kept fast forwarding when I got a bit bored.

Basically Meghan is really pretty, wears lovely clothes, everything is very lovely from the farmland views to the perfect kitchen and the beautiful oven gloves. But it is really really dull.

I wasn’t able to join in the watch along today but have managed to catch up with the thread, stirling work @AtIusvue, thanks for taking one for the team!

My sense is that M was given a lot of licence in this. It really is her vision. Like the Bench it is a bit banal and derivative. She blamed the royal family for silencing her voice. This is what she has to offer unsilenced. Safe to say she is not coming across as a major creative talent.

Sorry was off doing things!! Missed all the drive by fruiting on the other thread!!
Are they all on the same time clock???

Yes

I’ve watched the first episode and I’ve found it ok-ish. It’s pleasant enough and read enough about it to make me curious enough to watch. It’s of course driven by who she is married to, but everybody needs to start somewhere. Gwineth psltrow’s godfather is Steven Spielberg, so she’s also landed where she is based on good fortune, for example.

I think commercially it will do ok-ish because people will watch it even if just to find reasons to criticise it. Netflix just care about viewing numbers.

Quote from Maureen Callaghan on Meghan’s show, brutal.
Resentment and rage seem to simmer just below that faux-placid surface, threatening to erupt in full boil against the undeniable truth: her fame is waning, her talents are questionable, and she's married to a beta-royal.

As much as she seems flakey today , Gwineth Paltrow is an Oscar winning actress who has acted in hundreds of blockbuster films!
Most people have no idea who her parents are ( or pretend to for reasons) , Meghan is nowhere near her level , only someone who never watches films or tv would suggest so!

That really is such an incisive summary. Exactly how I feel. There’s something deeply uncomfortable about watching this over the top , sickly, gushing and totally vapid performance when just underneath there is something really quite vicious and dark swirling around.

It's obvious really!
She's a grown up version of Regina George!

Mad. Do people literally create threads to bully Meghan?

Why is this allowed by HQ?

It's not in the top 10 on US Netflix as of now anyway. I had to scroll a fair bit down the page to even see it, seems like netflix arent pushing it at all but maybe that's because I've never watched any of the h&M content? There will never be any products for sale, just like all the other projects that never got off the ground.

I suspect they just had to let the car crash happen for legal reasons, or it was common sense to, and they can now walk away knowing they kept to their side of the deal.

ThnDM has done a breakdown of her wardrobe for the show. £130,000 they reckon- £1,000 for a white shirt alone!

No wonder she is hustling. That's expensive gear to maintain! (If she pays for it herself of course).

I agree with a PP on the previous thread- she has no sense of who she is and that's why things come across so inauthentically. I also wonder if the NF producers just let her hang out to dry - the segment with MK and 'Sussex' is going down badly- and looking at MK's face shows she was less than impressed to be rebuked.. that frozen and blinking incredulously look. Quite alot of things I am amazed made the cut. Unless that was literally the best they could scrabble together TO make the cut.

Imagine what ended up on the cutting room floor if those are the best scenes they could come up with. I saw a clip with a chef who said he liked to listen to speed metal while cooking and Meghan couldn't hide her contempt and digust about that. It was just rude. What type of adult acts like that?! Especially on camera. Definitely not the type of person Meghan would like to portray herself as anyway. Yes Meghan, people have varied music tastes, have you never realised this? Lol

i can’t keep pace with the threads! I’m going to watch ep1 at a friend’ next week as I cancelled Netflix because their documentary was front and centre when they first did the Netflix thing and I couldn’t stand them on my screen every time I switched it on. I can’t imagine I’ll watch more than that - I actually never watched their doc either as didn’t want to give them any financial boost.

Will be interesting to see the stats on how many watched episode 1 and the drop off rate. The reviewers sound amazed by how crap it is.