So Many (More) Thoughts on Harry & Meghan, Volume II
So Many (More) Thoughts on Harry & Meghan, Volume II
Takeaways from the second three episodes of the Netflix series on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
If the first installment of Harry & Meghan on Netflix felt like a bit of an exhale, the second half landed like more of a weight. The final three episodes of the six-part docu-series spanned the time period from the wedding to current day, which is to say a lot of the Sussexes’ story. It went from the highest of highs, with a montage of their beautiful wedding, to the lowest points, showing a couple scared and scrambling to start the next chapter of their lives as their security has been pulled.
I binged Volume II on Thursday when it was released and have since gone back to re-watch significant portions of each episode. The second look was immensely helpful in absorbing and processing all that was shared. Below are my thoughts organized in a similar fashion to my SMT recap of Volume I, based on my reactions: what I found notable, what I appreciated, what enraged me, and so forth.
Also, wow, these numbers! Harry & Meghan, Volume I racked up more than 81 million viewing hours in its first week on Netflix, making it the biggest debut for a documentary ever at the streaming giant. For anyone still wondering why the couple would do this, there you have it — this is a chance to share their side of the story to a massive global audience.
And there’s so much more to say! Join me Monday for a live chat on Zoom with award-winning journalist and diversity advocate Ateh Jewel. Details below on this paid subscriber offering — registration required!
PS: If you’re not able to make it, do not worry. We’ll send out a replay to paid subscribers.
Note: Once again I am operating under the assumption that we have all watched the entire docu-series. Spoilers ahead.
ICYMI: We’ve got two robust comment threads on Volume I and Volume II. Each post has more than 500 comments and includes a variety of perspectives. If you haven’t already, upgrade to a paid subscription for $5 a month to join the conversation.
What it underscored
Much like in the first half, I was grateful for the moments in Volume II that reiterated what we knew or strongly suspected all along. These sentiments will forever have a place in the historical record.
The media’s treatment of Meghan was — and is — abhorrent. I am just sick over this. The docu-series compiled headline after headline in the most damning way to show the continual, racism-fueled attacks against Meghan. And rather than doing an ounce of self reflection, the tabloids are doubling down, screaming words like “treachery” (the Daily Mail) and “traitor” (the Sun). But the worst by far is an excerpt from Jeremy Clarkson’s column in the Sun that went viral on Twitter this wekeend. The British broadcaster said he hates her “on a cellular level,” and that he dreams “of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.” ABSOLUTELY VILE. Think of how many people read what he wrote before it went to print? And how many people read it in print?
How Meghan was treated was far worse, full stop. Throughout the docu-series, Harry referred to the treatment royal women go through when they join the family. That line of thinking was used repeatedly to excuse what was happening to Meghan. But I have never seen anything as hateful and dangerous as Clarkson’s comments directed at another woman in the family.
And it all adds up. Even if people can dismiss or brush aside one or two seemingly ridiculous headlines, the cumulative effect is profound — as David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History, noted. “An attack can be preposterous and it’s still an attack,” he said. “And that drip feed of constant attack on someone who is an individual, a real person, has an impact.”
Anger sells. I feel so strongly that you should never hate-follow or hate-read or hate-click on something because anger is lucrative. “That hysteria elicits clicks, which elicits an engagement, which elicits money,” Olusoga explained. “I call it the outrage industrial complex. And radicalized anger is just another step down the same pathway.”
It was Harry’s idea to leave. I found myself shouting at the screen: YES, THANK YOU. We’ve been saying this since it happened: Harry wanted out — and yet Meghan was blamed. “It was my decision,” he said in the fifth episode. “She never asked to leave. I was the one who had to see it for myself.” Terms like “Megxit” are “misogyny at its best.”
The move abroad was about getting distance from the press. This was so revealing! When Meghan explained what was at the heart of their move. “The pack of the royal rota is based there in London. So if we’re not there, they can’t cover what we’re doing,” Meghan said. “You guys can be on the front pages of all the papers. You can have it exactly how you want it and we can just go about doing the work in the name of the Queen.”
They were ready to give up their titles. Harry said it plain as day in the discussion leading up to their January 2020 announcement: “We would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles, if need be.”
What their departure meant. British journalist Afua Hirsch said it so starkly: “Their relationship presented the idea that Britain can change, that the most intractable, traditional parts of Britain can reform and evolve. Their departure felt like the death of a dream.”
What I found notable
The aspects or revelations that jumped out at me. Tucked between so much of what we already knew was a lot of new, especially about the royal family dynamic.
William was the only one named. There was one name that Harry kept coming back to throughout these three episodes: William. “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me,” Harry said about the Sandringham Summit. The ways in which their relationship has broken down sound pretty profound. “The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother,” he said.
And yet, Harry still gave Will (a bit of) a pass. Did you catch this? Harry followed up his comments on the summit with this: “So that he’s now on the institution’s side,” he said. “Part of that I get. I understand, right? That’s his inheritance. So to some extent it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.” That’s not going to make the front page of the tabloids, but it felt very notable to me.
Only minor mentions of other royal family members. This was fascinating. The ways in which things were veiled or talked around! Some people were left out entirely (Camilla, Kate) while others were referred to in multiple ways (Charles was sometimes “Harry’s dad” or the “Prince of Wales”). The Queen was largely given a pass, which I expected. As he described in the summit, he watched her “quietly sit there and sort of take it all in.” But he was quick to add: “But you have to understand that, from the family’s perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things, and her ultimate sort of mission, goal slash responsibility is the institution.”
Nobody else was named, either. I’d love to see a tally of the number of times Harry and Meghan used “they” to talk about the people employed by the institution who were also harming them. The couple could have named allllll the names. And they just did not go there, instead taking very broad swipes.
How the final moments were about Harry. After six hours of their story, it all came down to Harry. The ending of the final episode focused so much on Harry as a father, and my heart swelled at those scenes. And then came his solo drive through his new town — a real journey, if you will. Choosing to conclude the series on his reflections alone, on where his life has taken him and the inner peace he seems to have found, spoke volumes to me.
What I appreciated
Insights from the couple that reveal their thinking or the work they have done since to reflect on what happened to them.
Meghan’s rainbow wardrobe. We knew those last three looks were about going out with a bang, but loved hearing her describe it herself. “Well, let’s just look like a rainbow.” Cute: Like a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones. (Although I definitely wanted more fashion insight! Can’t help myself there.)
Harry’s continued anti-racism journey. He’s doing the work and he’s showing it, too. I appreciated the ways in which he put finer point on what racism is. “So many people expect racism really just to be the N word. ‘Oh, none of that’s racist,’” he said. “It’s like, you don’t understand.”
…and his ability to reflect on his own shortcomings. I think that sort of self reflection speaks volumes. Take what he said about how he reacted when faced with Meghan’s suicidal thoughts. “What took over my feelings was my royal role. I had been trained to worry more about ‘What are people gonna think if we don’t go to this event?’” he said. “Looking back on it now, I hate myself for it.” And this bit: “What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.”
The backstory behind Meghan’s letter to her father. That has been the subject of so much coverage and debate — and legal action — that I appreciated how Meghan went back to why she wrote it: at the request of the Queen and then-Prince Charles. I also was fascinated to learn how she got it to him, via her manager, and how she knew something was amiss with his signature.
The words of their guided meditation. To see that healing and reframing happening in real time had me in tears. “Remember that what is transpiring in the media, what’s being created, is an illusion,” the voice said to the couple on the couch. “When you try to prove that you’re good and that you’re not the person they say you are, you’re taking the bait, you’re feeding the beast. It is an illusion. Your work is not to prove your goodness. You know who you are.”
The pronunciation of Lilibet. Small, but big! Because of all the debate at the time of Lili’s birth. Meghan said it as I have always said it: Lil-uh-bet.
What enraged me
Like I said with Volume I, most of this was known. But seeing it compiled on screen was sickening.
What the negative press did to Meghan. I know I’ve said a lot already but I need to reiterate this. Hearing Meghan talk about her fear and pain was so unbearable. I commend her for sharing as she did, like on the impact of the press coverage. “You are making people want to kill me. It’s not just a tabloid, it’s not just some story, you are making me scared,” she said as she recalled pacing the hallways after reading a death threat. “And you’ve created it for what? Because you’re bored or because it sells your papers or it makes you feel better about your own life? It’s real what you’re doing and that's the piece I don’t think people fully understand.”
The chimp tweet. I truly cannot imagine being home with your brand new baby and suffering the kind of abuse that they did. But this tweet in particular, by journalist Danny Baker, was particularly horrifying. (So horrifying, in fact, that the BBC fired him.) Misan Harriman has a must-watch Reel on this.
The way Meghan was shut out of the Sandringham summit. I felt so badly for her when she said: “Imagine a conversation, a round-table discussion, about the future of your life, when the stakes are this high, and you as the mom and the wife and the target in many regards, aren’t invited to have a seat at the table.” Absolutely infuriating.
The coordinated social media campaign against Meghan. And that Samantha Markle is part of it! A report by Bot Sentinel, analyzing 114,000 tweets, found that a deeply connected network of 83 accounts were responsible for 70% of the hateful content — with a reach of 17 million users. “I think for people to really understand, when you plant a seed that is so hateful what it can grow into,” Meghan said explaining the death threats against her.
The broader effects of the hate campaign. Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor at UCLA, stepped back to explain what this does on a wide scale, calling it “symbolic annihilation.” “If you can destroy people who are symbols of social justice, then you can scare people to not want to be public,” she said. “It is a way to signal to the rest of us to stand down.”
What I found wonderful
Within all of the considerable trauma they shared, there were welcome moments of such lightness. The bond that they share! The life they have built. It’s beautiful.
A mimosa and a croissant. Is exactly what a bride should want on her wedding day!
What their early royal life was like. Those pics from Nott Cott? Come on! I thought about that a lot at the time, how people think royal life is in these expansive palaces with endless staff. And some of it is! But some of it is not. Harry hitting his head on the ceiling, Meghan gardening and Harry varnishing, really drove home the vibe of it all. But also that clip of Meghan dancing! And the bit about Oprah having tea at their cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace? Come on! “No one would ever believe it!” she said.
The glimpse of her baby shower. All that joy! And those dear girlfriends. Plus I definitely spied that Darcy Miller cake topper. (Thrilled for you, friend!)
…And the peak of a Lingua Franca sweater. Yay, Rachelle!
TYLER FREAKING PERRY. Oh my word, what that man did! It had always been something I wanted to hear more about, how they ended up in his home. And to hear why he reached out and what he thought about the couple was just — the heart he has.
Meghan’s at-home style. The big sun hat. The breezy dresses. The furry Birks! VERY into it.
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