Kitty Song-Covey (Anna Cathcart) might have just usurped in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise.
XO, Kitty, from the original films, follows Kitty as she moves to South Korea to surprise her long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Minyoung Choi), and finally be with him full-time by enrolling in his high school for her junior year. But Kitty’s surprise is more sour than sweet when she arrives to find that Dae has a secret girlfriend, Yuri (Gia Kim).
Things get even more complicated when it’s revealed that Yuri and Dae are actually in a fake relationship — ? Turns out, Yuri’s gay. She’s been dating Dae to protect herself after rumors about her sexuality started swirling around, which isn’t ideal when you have a homophobic mom. Terrified of being outed to her family, Yuri worked out an agreement with Dae: She pays his tuition at school (did I mention her mom’s also the principal and they’re super rich?), and he keeps publicly dating her — much to Kitty’s dismay. Poor Kitty doesn’t really know what’s going on until much later. But after several fights, camping trips, and good ol’ detention bonding, Kitty delivers a splendid plot twist: She’s falling in love with Yuri.
While XO, Kitty‘s many love triangles may be convoluted and lean into poorly written fan-fiction territory, the show offers a saving grace through Yuri and Kitty’s blossoming friendship-turned-crush. Trust me, you’re going to want to see so much more of it long after the show’s finale.
It’s a joy to see Kitty and Yuri’s relationship evolve.
Credit: Park Young-sol / Netflix
Understandably, Kitty and Yuri don’t really like each other in the show’s first few episodes, with Kitty still in the dark about what’s really going on. But after getting way too drunk at a party, Kitty suddenly feels fireworks while watching Yuri DJ the event — a full-fledged queer awakening rushing through her. Her feelings start growing stronger, and when everything’s resolved with the whole Dae situation and Yuri toward the last few episodes of the season, they find a budding friendship that’s secretly simmering with queer yearning.
From a near-kiss while rehearsing for their school talent show to the tension between them when sharing a bed on their school camping trip, Kitty and Yuri are always inches away from each other but miles apart from actually being together. By the show’s last few episodes, Kitty’s dating Dae and Yuri’s in a with her girlfriend Julianna (Regan Aliyah). By no means can they be together, but watching them evolve from enemies to friends to secret crushes will have you yelling at your screen for otherwise.
The push and pull between Kitty and Yuri is so magnetic that when Kitty breaks up with Dae and Julianna moves back to Seoul, you’ll feel gutted by the incessant “right person, bad timing” that keeps plaguing their relationship. The show’s finale will have you begging for them to scream from the rooftops about how much they want to kiss each other, and pray for a confession of love.
XO, Kitty perfectly subverts its own tropes.
Credit: Netflix
XO, Kitty wastes no time in setting up every high school romance trope possible. There are several love triangles with Kitty at the core sprawling throughout the show. There’s an abundance of meet-cutes. There are several school functions gone wrong. But while other high school flicks will see the same tropes occupied by boys, XO, Kitty subverts the latter by making it all about — which is , let alone in a spinoff inspired by the ultimate, straight high school romance.
Kitty begins her journey for a boy, but ends up realizing new things about her sexuality by its finish line. She goes through an intrinsically sapphic queer awakening (aka falling in love with your closest girl friend), and finds her “true love” in Yuri. In that way, the show turns its head on its own premise and surprises you with a story that’s far more rewarding.
Although it’s an absolute joy to see Kitty denouncing all her potential boyfriends for Yuri, it still feels like with XO, Kitty‘s sapphic plot twist. The show’s finale ends on a cliffhanger where it’s unclear whether or not Yuri and Kitty will actually get together, and we don’t ever really see their crush reach the same heights that other Netflix shows grant their straight relationships. That being said, it’s likely that XO, Kitty will get a second season. We can only hope for more sapphic abundance then.
From a stellar soundtrack to a surprising twist, XO, Kitty is a sweet shot of dopamine that’s easily bingeable thanks to its 30-minute episode run time. Come for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before lore, and stay for a new story that’s more gripping than you might think — it’s Kitty’s time to shine, and what a bright star she is.
