Royal Expert Calls Meghan Markle Podcast ‘Yawn-Worthy’ and ‘a Dud’
The first episode of Meghan Markle’s new Archetypes podcast earned some less-than-stellar reviews, with one royal expert dubbing it “yawn-worthy.” Find out why the expert called the podcast “a dud.”
Meghan Markle kicked off her podcast by discussing ambition in the first episode
Meghan’s first episode of her Spotify podcast included a discussion about the “negative connotation” of ambition for women.
“This is Archetypes, my podcast about the labels and tropes that try to hold women back,” she said in the introduction. “Over the course of the next dozen episodes, we’re going to live inside and rip apart the boxes women have been placed into for generations. Boxes like ‘diva,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘the b-word,’ ‘slut.’”
She added, “Some of these words, these labels, are harsh. They’re abrasive. And I want to get to the bottom of where they come from and why they’ve stuck around for so long and, importantly, how we can move past them.”
Expert calls the episode ‘a dud’
Royal expert Daniela Elser offered her review of Meghan’s podcast in an article for News.com.au. In a nutshell, Elser summed up the episode in a short sentence, writing, “Oh boy, is it a dud.”
Elser referenced the episode’s transcript word count to point out how Meghan dominated the conversation with her guest Serena Williams. “Meghan spoke for approximately 1.5 times more time than the woman who was there to tell her story,” the expert explained.
“Here was, in journalist parlance, a sensational ‘get’ and an opportunity for a truly thought-provoking and insightful discussion about Williams’ career, life and the slings and arrows she had endured along the way,” Elser noted.
“Instead we get Meghan, Meghan, a touch of Harry and some more Meghan with some Serena thrown in here and there,” she added. “It takes up until the 11-minute mark before we actually hear from the tennis great with Meghan’s other half, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex even getting a look in before Serena meaningfully joins the conversation.”
Meghan Markle’s podcast content wasn’t ‘groundbreaking,’ expert says
Elser went on to share her thoughts about why the podcast didn’t deliver on the promise of being “groundbreaking.”
“In her introduction, Meghan promises: ‘Over the course of the next dozen episodes, we’re going to live inside and rip apart the boxes women have been placed into for generations,'” Elser noted. “This episode doesn’t offer up so much as a demure tug of those genuinely pernicious boxes let alone ‘ripping them apart.'”
Elser pointed out how the content came up short, saying the podcast “is hardly going to have the patriarchy quaking in their boots” and took aim at how it’s “not provocative or perceptive or eye-opening or even particularly smart…”
The royal expert further noted Meghan’s retelling of a traumatic incident when she and Prince Harry were on tour and her son Archie’s room caught fire. The baby was safe but Meghan was understandably rattled and a bit confused about why they had to proceed to their next royal engagement.
“Now, let me say here, obviously, that would have been a deeply upsetting moment and her frustration that she was expected to plough on irrespective is entirely understandable,” Elser wrote.
“But … why bring this up at all? Taking the approximately 878th swing at the royal family from afar is hardly ripping about those boxes and the woe-is-me-dom is just yawn-worthy,” she added. “How much more mileage can the Sussexes ring out of the Big Bad Palace storyline?”
