Makeup artist Daniel Martin is both the least experienced homemaker of all of Meghan’s friends and the person who best reflects the show’s premise.
Photo: Netflix

“I’m thinking an easy caramelized onion tart,” Meghan Sussex, née Markle, muses in the opening episode of the second season of Netflix’s With Love, Meghan. Why the pastry? “Because it actually ticks the box for both sweet and savory people. It’s so easy if you have puff pastry in your freezer, which you should always have.” She’s not explaining this to the audience, but to her longtime friend and makeup artist, Daniel Martin. Whereas most guests on With Love, Meghan would respond to a prompt like this with doe-eyed enthusiasm, Daniel simply smirks and shakes his head. He doesn’t have puff pastry in his freezer. He’s never had puff pastry in his freezer. “Ain’t gonna,” he warns.

Meghan is back for another season of With Love, Meghan, though what is immediately clear from the footage of her then-living sweet old dog, Guy, who died prior to the first season’s release, is that Meghan didn’t really go anywhere in the first place. The Netflix show’s second season is really just its first season continued — the same fake house, the same cooking-and-crafting format, the same flower sprinkles, the same foodie guests. Not unlike Ina Garten, Meghan is often joined by food-world experts who walk her through a somewhat complicated kitchen technique that she already seems to know: Season one boasted guests like Roy Choi and Alice Waters, while season two welcomes Samin Nosrat and José Andres. There are also a handful of returning faces in this new set of episodes, chief among them the aforementioned Martin, who is both the least experienced homemaker of all of Meghan’s friends and the person who best reflects the show’s premise.

Martin was Meghan’s guest in the series premiere earlier this year, in which he slices his hand open the second he’s put to work chopping tomatoes. “I literally just cut myself,” he says with a sheepish laugh, adding, “Your only ratchet friend” as Meghan presses a paper towel into his hand. “I can beat your face, but I can’t cut a tomato.” He mercifully makes it through the season-two premiere without injuring himself (“It was the knife’s fault,” he clarifies), but he maintains the same amateur spirit he brought to his first appearance. In a show where experts show up to a manicured fake kitchen to do forced banter with one another, Daniel remains With Love, Meghan’s secret ingredient: Next to all these pros, he is literally just a guy, one whose presence transforms the show from high-effort tablescaping to a laid-back dinner party with pals. Meghan is keen to overcomplicate just about every dish and craft in the name of “extra love” or “care,” but Martin’s limited skill forces their time together to indulge actual simplicity. When past guest David Chang and new guest Christina Tosi go head-to-head designing high-concept flower bouquets, Martin makes himself a teeny-tiny display unlike anyone else’s work. “A different vision,” Meghan charitably concedes, but Martin is proud of himself nonetheless, doing a little dance with his creation when it’s done.

So much of With Love, Meghan is ostensibly about finding the joy in imperfections: Every slipup is a learning opportunity; every awkward laugh is a moment for closeness. It’s a nice idea, but in a show so immaculate and curated, that rarely comes through. Only Martin actually embodies Meghan’s stated enthusiasm for life’s happy accidents as he hangs on for dear life when asked to join Chang in putting steak on a grill. Martin is clearly happy to be there, but that doesn’t mean he’s not nervous in the kitchen. That lack of confidence is charming and funny; when the experts on With Love, Meghan mess up, their humility feels feigned and unnatural, but Martin’s embarrassment only motivates everyone to help him out. He approaches browning butter like it’s a phobia: “Something’s boiling?!” he yelps with alarm. He compares a vibrant purple napa cabbage to a lipstick. He is authentically himself, for better and worse, and With Love, Meghan lets him get away with both. “Your enthusiasm is infectious,” Chang tells him as they all stand eating dinner together, and he really seems to mean it.

In the season-two premiere’s final moments, the group’s s’mores-making endeavor descends into gooey chaos, with everyone burning and slopping and dripping marshmallow, chocolate, and peanut butter everywhere. It’s as though With Love, Meghan has for once descended to Martin’s level of skill. No one is striving for perfection, only to enjoy the moment as best as anyone who loves food can. It’s a rare moment of genuine ease, proving that experts and amateurs alike can appreciate having an extra set of hands in the kitchen, regardless of whether they keep puff pastry in their freezer.

Related