With Love, Meghan Episode Fourteen: Just for the Halibut

WITH LOVE, MEGHAN: JUST FOR THE HALIBUT

Original Airdate: August 26, 2025

Special Guest: Claire Smyth

Mentions of "Joy": 0

Mentions of Edible Flower Sprinkles: Yes

Passive-Aggressive Moments: 2

Gushing Praise for Markle: "I just love all this stuff that you do. You just make everything so beautiful".

"Teacher's pet. I want to be Teacher's Pet. I want to be huddled, and cuddled, as close to you as I can get. (That's the lesson we're guessin' you're best in)". So sang Doris Day in the title song to her film Teacher's Pet. That song came to mind while watching Just for the Halibut, the fourteenth of sixteen With Love, Meghan episodes. I do not think that Her Royal Highness Meghan, Duchess of Sussex actually wants to cuddle with her guest. However, as Just for the Halibut played on, I felt something that I have never felt before as we get close to closing out this lifestyle series. I felt genuine sorrow for Mrs. Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, watching her desperate efforts for approval go repeatedly rejected and ignored.

It is time for fish stories as Meghan Markle eagerly awaits her guest, chef Claire Smyth. Smyth catered Markle's wedding reception to her spouse, almost always referred to as "my husband" and occasionally known as "Aitch". She will make some juice for Smyth even if the Duchess Hostess with the Mostess has not juiced in 20 years. She will make a travel kit for Smyth, appreciating that the flight from London to Montecito is over twelve hours. "A carry-on size of love", Mrs. Sussex declares. In preparation for Smyth's arrival, we also get How to Make Salt and Vinegar Crisps.

"What is more satisfying than the smell of fried potatoes?", the Duchess of Sussex asks. I'm still trying to figure out why a crepe feels more special than a pancake, so I cannot answer that question. 

Now, Smyth is here to give us her Michelin-star culinary skills. The Norther Irish chef catered the Duke and Duchess' wedding reception and anniversary party. Smyth will prepare Parker House Rolls. She is also highly interested in the kind of fish that California has. Therefore, they go to the Santa Barbara Fish Market. Here, Brian Colgate guides them through the various items until they find a perfect halibut, which is the most plentiful fish in the area.

Meghan judges the weight of their selected halibut at 23 pounds, about the same weight as her daughter, Princess Lilibet. The actual weight of the halibut is 8 pounds exactly.

Once selected, Meghan and Clare return to check on the rolls and prepare the halibut. We get My Guide to Compound Butter, which will include Mrs. Sussex's beloved edible flower sprinkles. "Make a cinnamon sugar butter with pressed flowers. We know I like my edible flowers" she tells the camera crew. At last, the meal is finished, one that Clare and Meghan can enjoy; Meghan presents the chef with various gifts and we get a picture of a "surprise visit" from "my husband", whom no one knows what the Aitch his name is.

One of the delights in Just for the Halibut is how Meghan clearly cuts no ice with Clare Smyth. No matter how pleasing the Duchess tries to be, no matter how much enthusiasm and sugary sweetness she throws at her, Smyth is having none of it. The more that Meghan tries to butter up or put Clare down, the more Clare pushes against it.  Just for the Halibut is cringe watching, but in a positive way.  

Take this exchange between the chef and the Duchess. Smyth has instructed that the roll dough be covered. Meghan, attempting to be chatty and friendly (and maybe a little shady and superior), says, "What do you guys say? Aluminium instead of aluminum foil? Aluminium?" Smyth, clearly displeased that her British pronunciations are being mocked, replies, "Tin foil", visibly put off by Meghan's haughty manner. "Tin. Great," Mrs. Sussex replies in a surprisingly disappointed tone.

I think Markle expected Smyth to play along with Meghan's manner. However, Smyth is not amused by any of this. It seems that the whole "aluminium/aluminum/tin" exchange was a semi-subconscious way for Meghan to make fun of the differences in language. Smyth, I think, took it as this American attempting to show herself as superior. Smyth seemed quite put off by it and would not play along. It is odd that Just for the Halibut had a lot about British vs. American pronunciations. We had "aluminium vs. aluminum". We had "herbs vs. 'erbs". I do not know why that was, but it was.

Clare Smyth gave as good as she got when she talked about the wedding reception catering. She remarked how she had to prepare fried chicken. Smyth, I think, found making the fried chicken a chore, a dish outside her palate. She mentioned that the fried chicken is now part of her off-menu at Smyth's restaurants. However, the impression Smyth left, intention or not, is that she found fried chicken an "American" dish that was wholly unsuitable for a British meal. 

Throughout Just for the Halibut, Meghan Markle grows more and more desperate to ingratiate herself to Clare Smyth. Throughout Just for the Halibut, Clare Smyth gently but firmly rejects the overtures. Smyth clearly loves cooking. The times that she expressed both joy and interest is when she is preparing or guiding the meal prep. Smyth was having a good time in the tour of the Santa Barbara Fish Market. It was not because she was with Meghan Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. It was because she genuinely wanted to learn about what types of fish California waters had to offer.

This segment inadvertently revealed Meghan Markle's stupidity. She holds this halibut and judges it to be 23 pounds. The fish ends up weighing 8 pounds. How can someone misjudge weight to such a degree? How does someone not know the difference between 8 pounds and 23 pounds? If you go to the gym, you can see a 5 pound and a 25-pound dumbbell. You would know that they would be different in terms of heaviness. Yet, somehow, in some way, Meghan Markle, who prides herself on her sociopolitical acumen and culinary craftsmanship, cannot distinguish between those two weights. 

Worse, she claims to think that the halibut is 23 pounds based on how the fish feels in comparison to her daughter. Does she then think that Princess Lilibet weights 23 pounds? Lili is four years old. I would imagine that a four-year-old would weigh more than 23 pounds. That Markle thinks Lili apparently weighs the equivalent of eight pounds is strange and alarming. How does someone wildly misjudge something like that?

Just for the Halibut contains some oddball comments and statements that would make those awake for it howl with laughter. As Her Royal Highness prepares this travel kit, she muses that it is "a carry-on size of love". In her growing desperation to keep a warm conversation going with Smyth, she waxes rhapsodic on bread. "But no one thinks about the level of focus and love that goes into a dinner roll", the Duchess of Sussex tells Smyth. 

I am simply astounded that such words of deep wisdom are expressed publicly. I am more astounded that Her Royal Highness Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, did not think that they sound odd to insipid. Does one really have a level of love when making dinner rolls? This might be news to my baker. Markle, when pushing down on the dough, remarks that the rolls are "squidgy". This turn of phrase brings to mind "Squidgygate", the infamous telephone recording of Aitch's late mother discussing her misery within the House of Windsor. In this case, I think it was an unintentional callback. It is, unfortunately, a very odd thing to say. I would imagine that we Americans would say "squishy" versus "squidgy". 

Just for the Halibut has a couple of moments where Meghan Markle does not appear pleased. There is the "aluminium/tin foil" slap-down. Another is in the My Guide to Compound Butter segment. She tells us that "my husband" mocks her for how she pronounces "herbs". Most Americans drop the "h" and say "erbs". The British pronounce it as "herbs" (Smyth and apparently Mr. Sussex do). "You're so American. 'Erbs. 'Erbs", her generation's Wallis Simpson tells her television crew (as Meghan never looks into the camera). Yes, it may be my own sense of things. However, there seemed to be a veiled sense of hostility in what she I think wanted to make sound as amusing. This "herbs/'erbs" difference came across in Markle's telling as almost a source of irritation. Somehow, it suggested, at least to me, that she thought that "my husband" was wrong to pick on her for how she pronounces a word.

It is, however, fine when Meghan Markle does it.

Just for the Halibut is best when Clare Smyth is our guide. Smyth has a clear love and passion and dare I say, "joy" for cooking. She takes it seriously and is a total professional. She came across as warm and engaging when in the kitchen. She also came across as barely tolerant of Her Royal Highness. Both those qualities elevated Just for the Halibut. The episodes where Markle is pushed off to the side, where the genuine cooks do their thing, are the ones that work. 

Markle is aware that her children pronounce the word as "zeh-bra" instead of "zee-bra". Markle, however, makes no mention of whether her children pronounce the word as "aluminium" or "aluminum". Meghan Markle drops the "h" in "herbs". "Aitch" has yet to drop Markle, not even for the halibut.

5/10

Next Episode: A Weekend Away