“My life is a mess… except for you,” confesses Florian (Théo Augier Bonaventure) to Q (Anthony Keyvan) during one tearful moment on a school camping trip. The goals and hardships of the seven main characters envelop one another as their stories unravel in the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” spinoff series, created by Jenny Han. “XO, Kitty” follows the main character Kitty (Anna Cathcart), a teenager who moves to Korea on a high school scholarship to meet her long-distance boyfriend Dae (Choi Min-yeong), as well as learn about her late mother’s past.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
The show starts with enough exposition that it’s forgiving of anyone who hasn’t seen the preceding movie series. With the main character swiftly taking off to Seoul within the first ten minutes, it becomes clear who one of the main target audiences is. There’s no denying the increasing existence of Korean culture enthusiasts over recent years (which, the show almost seems to poke fun at with its character Madison, played by Jocelyn Shelfo), as things like K-pop and K-dramas struck the fancy of non-Koreans across the world. Oozing with Korean pop-culture references and packed with popular K-pop artists on the soundtrack (also including a cameo of 2PM’s Taecyeon), “XO, Kitty” nails its watchability to this demographic – and ingeniously increases its discourse on social media.
It’s simple: the premise guarantees the show’s popularity. It captures the thrill of experiencing new things, addresses common hardships of youth, and grants pop-culture lovers enough content to snack on – all stuffed into ten episodes.
Kitty settles into her new home and sets off to surprise Dae at the school’s welcome party – only to have her perfect plan shattered when she sees him coupled up with another girl. To Kitty’s oblivion, this new relationship is in fact all an act to help the daughter of a rich business owner Yuri (Gia Kim) hide her sexuality from her unaccepting family and the public. This traps Dae under an NDA, and the heartstring-tugging (or perhaps hair-pulling) plot device of person A unable to tell person B something vital is played to its death until the very end.
The series progresses with Kitty attempting to move on and focus on her other objective of connecting with her mother. She keeps getting caught up in more potential romantic interests however, and there are so many will-they-won’t-they pairings in the show that the love triangles could be more appropriately likened to one big love tetrahedron.
While the series is a bingeable, easy-watch, it manages to flesh out several deep themes besides the leading romance storyline, including the struggle of being part of the LGBTQIA+ community in a society that is unaccepting, the emotional toll of adopted people, and the effect of dysfunctional families on children. We follow several characters who have experienced things such as parents’ divorce, the loss of a close loved one, being distant from the family in a literal and emotional sense, and being forced to hide something about oneself in order to maintain others’ approval. “XO, Kitty” does well to spotlight these issues which are very real to many, yet less talked about in Korea than in the West.
The secondary plot naturally follows Yuri, who struggles to keep in contact with her girlfriend Julianna (Regan Aliyah) after her mum, the school’s principal, separated them. In the meantime Kitty and Yuri become closer, and the two share a heartfelt moment when Kitty expresses she took having a family that’s supportive “no matter what” for granted, as opposed to Yuri’s situation in which only a false version of herself is accepted. The show’s strength is in its broad, unforceful representation and the comfort it provides to those who relate.
We’re served a plot twist when Alex (Peter Thurnwald) – who mirrors Kitty in his coming to Korea to learn more about his birth parents – is discovered to not actually be Kitty’s half-brother but instead Yuri’s. He gets the closure he deserves, although this subplot’s conclusion could’ve been done with being a bit less rushed.
“XO, Kitty” ends on a cliffhanger of sorts; with Kitty broken up with Dae, crushing on a taken Yuri, and a charming but egotistical Min Ho (Lee Sang-heon) having revealed his feelings for her, it’s all up in the air who she’ll end up with. Often lighthearted but it’s real when it needs to be, and deals with the issues it’s given with grace. The inconclusive ending is the final touch to a show that is so self-aware in its popularity that a second series is unquestionable.
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Written by Maddie Armstrong
View of the Arts is a British online publication that chiefly deals with films, music, and art, with an emphasis on the Asian entertainment industry. We are hoping our audience will grow with us as we begin to explore new platforms such as K-pop / K-music, and Asian music in general, and continue to dive into the talented and ever-growing scene of film, music, and arts, worldwide.
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