'Banalities, absurdities and self-aggrandising
Californian platitudes': Critics don't hold back in their reviews of Meghan
Markle's first Archetypes podcast with Serena Williams
By MARK
DUELL FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:
09:58 BST, 24 August 2022 | UPDATED: 10:17 BST, 24 August 2022
Meghan Markle's new Spotify podcast has been slammed
by critics who said it was 'almost entirely preposterous' and 'just another way
she can talk about herself'.
The Duchess
of Sussex released her long-awaited Archetypes podcast yesterday in the form of
a conversation with her close friend, tennis great Serena Williams.
But Celia
Walden in the Telegraph said it was 'an interview with this inspirational
sporting figure in name only', and that Meghan was 'interviewing herself'.
She also
said the Duchess was the sort of person 'who hijacks every distressing anecdote
with one of their own – only theirs is longer drawn-out, more distressing'.
The
Spectator's columnist Steerpike said it was 'hard to believe that it took 28
people, including eight executive producers, to make the episode - plus
Meghan'.
The review
added that tennis enthusiasts who listen to the podcast to hear from Williams
'might be a bit disappointed' because it 'is in fact all about Meghan'.
And James
Marriott in The Times described it as a 'tastefully soundtracked parade of
banalities, absurdities and self-aggrandising Californian platitudes'.
His
one-star review said the podcast will 'make you feel you've been locked in the
relaxation room of a wellness spa with an unusually self-involved yoga
instructor'.
But in The
Independent, Clémence Michallon told how the podcast made it clear that Meghan
'made the right decision when she cut and ran' from the Royal Family.
She said
the story about how Meghan had to carry on with her duties after her son Archie
narrowly escaped a fire in his room must have been 'uniquely infuriating'.
Here, read some excerpts of some of the reviews of
Meghan's new podcast:
JAMES
MARRIOTT – THE TIMES
Meghan
Markle's Archetypes podcast review — almost entirely preposterous
Rating:
'The
Duchess of Sussex's almost entirely preposterous new podcast Archetypes
promises to 'rip apart the boxes women have been placed into for generations'.
On the evidence of the first episode - an interview with Serena Williams - it
won't really do this at all.'
'The
podcast is a tastefully soundtracked parade of banalities, absurdities and
self-aggrandising Californian platitudes. The effect of all the tinkly music
and vapid conversation is to make you feel you've been locked in the relaxation
room of a wellness spa with an unusually self-involved yoga instructor.'
'Even those
sympathetic to Meghan's plight (and I had once thought I might be one of those
people) will find that the full hour of an episode of Archetypes will put them
in an unusually grumpy mood.'
CELIA
WALDEN - DAILY TELEGRAPH
Meghan's
podcast is just another way she can talk about herself
'The
podcast is an interview with this inspirational sporting figure in name only.
If the rest of the season is anything like the premiere, what we're really
going to be listening into week after week is Meghan interviewing herself.'
'Even the
anecdote about how Meghan first met her supposed interviewee – at a 2010 Super
Bowl party – is somehow turned into self-aggrandisement. Spotting Serena
heading towards someone, Meghan wondered who on earth could have sparked this
special woman's interest, and – oh, my goodness! – it was her.'
'Every
woman has had a girlfriend like Meghan: the one who turns every confidence back
to them and hijacks every distressing anecdote with one of their own – only
theirs is longer drawn-out, more distressing.'
STEERPIKE -
THE SPECTATOR
Meghan's
Archetypes podcast is really all about her
'Harry has
been shoved into the background, natch, so that Meghan can concentrate on
talking about herself – sorry, Mr S meant to say, 'on the labels that try to
hold women back.' Labels don't try to do anything, of course, they are labels.
But we should never let common sense get in the way of rich women talking about
female empowerment.'
'The first
guest is Serena Williams, but tennis enthusiasts who tune in might be a bit
disappointed. The show is in fact all about Meghan, since it takes 11 minutes
for Serena to barely get a word in edgeways.'
'It's hard
to believe that it took 28 people, including eight executive producers, to make
the episode – plus Meghan herself, who is also listed as an 'executive
producer' in the credits.'
CLEMENCE
MICHALLON - THE INDEPENDENT
The royal
family isn't working for anyone — even the royals
'I have
never found it hard to understand why Markle and her husband chose to resign
from their duties as royals, but if I did, this story [about Archie and the
fire] would probably bring me some clarity.
'There is
something so relatably frustrating about that situation. Being confronted with
a problem that could easily be solved with a little bit of pragmatism (they
could have released a statement explaining what had happened and pushed back
official engagements until the next day) and being told it can't be for
completely amorphous reasons (optics, stiff upper lip, 'it's not the way things
are done around here') is uniquely infuriating.
'The more I
hear about the royal family these days, the more it seems clear that the
monarchy isn't working for anyone – including the royals themselves. And from
what we've heard on her podcast, it's clear Markle made the right decision when
she cut and ran.'
HILARY ROSE
– THE TIMES
Meghan's
podcast: an insight about her private life? Yes, another one
'In
hindsight, I should have beaten myself unconscious an hour ago with a copy of
Finding Freedom. Instead, I've listened to 57 minutes and 28 seconds of Meghan
Markle's syrupy California drawl, while rocking back and forth and moaning
softly under my breath.'
'It seems
to be an allegory of all the many ways in which she, a fierce, strong, brave
woman was wronged and traduced in the ten minutes she lived in the UK and was
fêted as the best thing to happen to the royal family in years. Her podcast is
pure, narcissistic gibberish and next week she's 'in conversation' with Mariah
Carey. Shoot me now.'
ELLA WHELAN
- GOOD MORNING BRITAIN
'One of the
things I admire about British sensibility is a desire to prick people's balloon
heads when they get too big, which I don't think is a bad thing. The thing for
me is ambition is only worth celebrating if what you're being ambitious is
worthwhile.'
'The
problem with Meghan Markle and other celebrities or royals, very kind of
powerful professional women, talking, whining I think, about the fact that it's
so hard when all you're doing is trying to be ambitious is that it comes across
I think to your average woman - maybe the ladies who are watching this morning
trying to get the kids ready to go out, or hoovering the sitting room, or off
to their job - as just the kind of professional middle class feminism, whining
about not being celebrated enough.'
KINSEY
SCHOFIELD - GB NEWS
'Outside
looking in, there's an ulterior motive here with this podcast and that's
settling scores.
'With this
episode, you kind of see her go after Tom Bower, responding to his claim that
she's ambitious and scheming. The book also say that Serena Williams told a
media contact they weren't necessarily good friends and he also questions her
Procter and Gamble story. She goes into all those things in the very first
episode in her podcast, I think that those might be related.'
BEL MOONEY
– DAILY MAIL
Giggling,
gushing – and old grievances
'This
bizarre, saccharine and faintly queasy schmooze-fest between Meghan and 'my
dear friend Serena' (as we hear over and over again) tells us next to nothing
at all about the making of Serena Williams's towering ambition.'
'This
podcast is yet another example of the inescapable truth that Britain and the
USA are two nations divided by a common language. No British broadcaster would
sanction the almost incomprehensible giggling and gushing between Meghan and
her guest that excludes the listener from any real understanding or intimacy.'
'Instead of
treating the podcast interview (she calls it a 'chat') with Serena seriously,
Meghan uses it as a vehicle to air her old grievances – the kind of gossipy,
headline-making stuff that will make the Spotify execs sigh with relief that
their investment in the duchess has delivered.'
ANGELA
LEVIN – MAILONLINE
'She would
still be a D-list celebrity if she had not married a prince. She aligns herself
with them [Serena Williams and next podcast guest Mariah Carey], but they have
done brilliantly and overcome difficult childhood, whereas she has married a
prince and spent a lot of money.'
'She
thought it was normal to be ambitious and only when she started dating Harry
did she realise that it was not welcomed. My goodness, that is a smack at Harry
and a punch to the Royal Family. Harry told her about life in the Royal Family,
but she obviously did not want to listen.'
'Why is
everything so hard for her? Because she won't accept where she is and make the
best of it. She has had a nanny when most could not. She has said will see the
real her, well she needs to justify the ambition claim she is making.'
RICHARD
FITZWILLIAMS - MAILONLINE
'She
undoubtedly feels she has been singled out. The interview was about The
Misconception of Ambition, but the implication here is that after she dated
Harry she feels she was picked on. She was ambitious beforehand and did well in
Suits but that is not top league television.'
'There is
surely nothing wrong in being ambitious and being royal, in fact the role
positively encourages a member of the royal family to be ambitious to help
those in need. Diana was very ambitious, her charitable work and her public
profile were synonymous, ultimately fatefully so, but she did immense good.'
'This is a
very negative view of women, we all know they have been breaking the glass
ceiling for many years now. Her podcast, with a fascinating guest famous for
her ambition on the tennis court, totally ignores this.'
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