Stateside critics have been left unimpressed by the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix series has been described in the US as "a straightforward romance with no real royal dirt," much to the disappointment of the viewers who had eagerly awaited it.
The tell-all documentary was met by unfavourable takes on the whole from a number of major US media outlets following its release on Thursday.
In them, Harry accuses the royals of having a “huge level of unconscious bias” and Meghan saying the media wanted to “destroy” her.
Chief television critic for Variety, Daniel D’Addario, explained how the couple had previously “shocked the world multiple times over” after "Megxit" and their explosive Oprah Winfrey interview in March 2021.
He said on Thursday: "With today’s release… the Sussexes surprise us yet again, with just how narrow their vision of their fame is, how pinched and unimaginative their presence on the world stage has become.
"They may have shed their responsibilities to the crown, but they’re still in a kind of service. There’s an air of duty about the entire enterprise of ‘Harry & Meghan,’ as if they’re honor-bound to keep reciting their personal story until we eventually lose interest."
In the initial release, Prince Harry and Meghan opened up on a number of details surrounding previous racism claims from within the royal family.
However, Deadline's Stephanie Bunbury said the episodes were not “the royal evisceration we have been expecting”.
She admitted: "The story so far is a straightforward romance, with the best-looking royals no longer in the business seen sitting on a couch agreeing that, guess what, they fell madly in love on their second date,”
“None of this, however, is the royal evisceration we have been expecting. Presumably, the Harry Formerly Known As a Prince and his maligned wife will go into a bit more detail in next week’s Volume II on what prompted them to walk away from the whole thing and set up shop in California.”
And scribes at The Hollywood Reporter were of a similar view, saying it was simply showcasing Harry and Meghan’s “great love story” without any “truly groundbreaking content”.
“While expectations of what the documentary might reveal were high, the audience is not enlightened about anything truly groundbreaking in the first three episodes,” a THR article read.
The next instalment of the six-part series is due to be released next week on December 15 and fans will be hoping for more drama.
