Netflix is shocking viewers with its decision to renew Meghan Markle’s homemaking show, “With Love, Meghan,” for a second season even as the show’s first two episodes elicited overwhelmingly negative reviews both in the United Kingdom and across the pond. 

The news was shared by Netflix on Friday morning along with the announcement that the second season had already “completed filming.” The former “Suits” star confirmed the renewal on social media, sharing with her followers: “If you’re loving Season 1, just wait until you see the fun we cooked up on Season 2!” 

The renewal comes less than a week after the eight-episode show debuted on Netflix on March 4. The Martha Stewart-sque series showcases Ms. Markle preparing expensive meals and hosting guests in what’s believed to be her sprawling $8 million farmhouse in the California countryside where she lives with Prince Harry, their two children and a lot of security.

The series is described by Netflix as an “inspiring” show that “reimagines the genre” of lifestyle programming, “blending practical how-to’s and candid conversation with friends.” 

Ms. Markle, who is also the producer, is shown “embracing playfulness over perfection” and highlighting “how easy it can be to create beauty, even in the unexpected,” Netflix wrote alongside the trailer’s release.

Since its debut, the series has ranked among Netflix’s top 10 most watched shows in America, hovering at 6th place by Friday afternoon. Despite the strong viewership, however, the show has received scorching reviews both by industry experts and viewers at home, boasting an abysmal 2.7 stars out of 10 on IMDB.

The most recently released episode showcases a surprising exchange between Ms. Markle and one of her celebrity  friends, the actress, Mindy Kaling, during which the Duchess instructs her guest to refer to her by the surname “Sussex” rather than “Markle.” 

The passive-aggressive comment was made by Ms. Markle after Ms. Kaling quipped that “I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack in the Box and loves it.” To which the Duchess responded flatly: “It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle.’ You know I’m Sussex now.” 

Leading entertainment magazine, Variety, lambasted the show as a “Montecito ego trip not worth taking” and described each episode as playing out “like a forced march” in which “Meghan’s guests must, as the price of getting to share an afternoon in a made-for-TV kitchen with her, praise her first.” 

Time Magazine offered a similarly unflattering take, running a review with the headline: “Netflix’s With Love, Meghan Is a Royal Primer on Entertaining That Couldn’t Be More Boring.” The magazine writes: “With each glossy new program, podcast, and lifestyle brand, the promise of authenticity has given way to an impersonal performance of perfection. With Love, Meghan might be the most performative example to date.”

Media outlets in the United Kingdom were even more cruel in their takedowns of Ms. Markle’s show. The Telegraph called the show an “exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs.” The Daily Mail mused that ‘it is so awful it is almost compelling and sources within Netflix hope it will prove irresistible to a ‘hate-watch’ audience of those who don’t like Meghan.’ 

Even the Guardian, a left-leaning outlet that often criticizes the monarchy, failed to muster up any kind words: “It’s the lack of humour, irony, self-awareness and apprehension of the reality of this deeply unequal and apocalyptic world that makes With Love, Meghan so unlovable in the end,” the review reads.