Meghan Markle is back with “season two” of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan – and she picked up right where she left off in all the worst ways.
From coplaying as a lifestyle influencer in a home that isn’t hers to awkward interactions with her guests to sprinkling flowers everywhere, everything about season two feels an awful lot like season one. And that might explain why viewers are not all that enthused about it.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Link Lauren, host of MK Media’s Spot On with Link Lauren, to discuss why Markle’s latest reinvention of herself isn’t resonating.
‘Season Two’
Netflix and Markle are promoting the latest eight episode drop of With Love, Megyn as “season two” of the widely panned series that features the former royal spending time with “friends” at a rented Montecito, California, estate as she shares her cooking, gardening, and hosting tips.
But Megyn is calling B.S. on the billing. “It is such a fake season two. I said this as soon as they announced it, she had just shot extra episodes and, in order to save face when season one got panned, she said, ‘Oh, renewed for a second season,'” she posited. “They are just releasing the extra episodes. It’s very obvious… We are not all as dumb as you think we are.”
That theory becomes clear to anyone who has spent any time watching season one and “season two” because there is absolutely no distinction. In episode three, Queer Eye host Tan France actually calls Markle out for adding her beloved “flower sprinkles” to whatever dish she was preparing.
“She did the flower sprinkle thing in season one,” Megyn said. “There is nothing original here. It’s more recycled pablum, which is being panned universally by the critics.”
Declining Ratings
To that point, audiences are not flocking to the latest release. The show has been labeled “tone deaf,” “needy,” and “self-indulgent” by critics and it also failed to crack Netflix’s top 10 list. According to Forbes, that means it racked up less than 2.1 million views in its first week.
Unlike Martha Stewart, who recently threw shade at Markle’s authenticity (or lack thereof), Lauren said the former Suits star has no discernible skillset. “She really wants to be the next Martha Stewart, but what Martha Stewart has is authenticity,” he said. “Meghan Markle has nothing. She can’t cook, she can’t clean, she can’t do good flower arrangements. All she’s done is put flower sprinkles on food.”
Megyn said the show suffers from the fact that Markle is not relatable to the very people she is trying to relate to. “This person is supposed to be so relatable to us. She’s constantly like, ‘I’m just like you. I’m just like a regular working mom,'” she noted. “She’s got a craft barn on her property! She just goes out to her craft barn like, fellow moms out there, you all had when you wanted to get messy with your kids… We all had a craft barn to which we would retreat to preserve our home.”
Most moms also aren’t making pasta with preserved lemons while wearing several hundred thousand dollars (according to estimates) worth of jewelry, as Markle did in a promo for the show posted to Instagram last month. “That’s what she thinks we are going to relate to,” Megyn said.
Tone Deaf Teigen
But perhaps the most cringeworthy part of “season two” came when “fellow mom” – and prolific internet bully/troll – Chrissy Teigen joined Markle’s in the kitchen and couldn’t remember her own children’s birthdays.
In an awkward exchange, Teigen admitted to having their dates of birth tattooed on her arm, but she couldn’t remember whose birthday was whose and called out to her husband, John Legend, in the next room for help remembering.
“Speaking of bullies, [Markle has] bullied so many people out of jobs, according to The Daily Mail and her biographers. And who does she invite on as one of her big celebrity guests? Known bully Chrissy Teigen,” Megyn noted. “So, two bullies get together and Chrissy Teigen – yet another super relatable star who is allegedly one of her great friends – gets on there and cannot even remember her own children’s birthdays… Chrissy Teigen is truly an idiot… and 100 percent a bully brat.”
Ultimately, Lauren thinks “season two” may mark the end of Markle’s latest experiment. “She is doing, like, water marbling, arts and crafts, making flower arrangements. She took vegetables and fruits and dipped them in paint and put them on aprons… It’s embarrassing,” he concluded. “I think she is someone like [Rep.] Jasmine Crockett – we’re not really even going to see her a year from now.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Lauren by tuning in to episode 1,142 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.