SummaryThe series spinoff of the "To All the Boys" film series finds Kitty Covey (Anna Cathcart) attending school in Seoul to be closer to her long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Choi Min-yeong).
SummaryThe series spinoff of the "To All the Boys" film series finds Kitty Covey (Anna Cathcart) attending school in Seoul to be closer to her long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Choi Min-yeong).
XO, Kitty works because Cathcart knows Kitty very well at this point, the story takes turns that aren’t the usual artificial romcom plot contrivances, and there’s enough layers to make the show more than just about its central romance.
Cathcart is a more mature Kitty than we’ve seen previously. Still, she manages to weave in the spunky naiveté and inquisitiveness that was so endearing about the character in her pre-teen years. Kitty’s determination and earnestness ground the series when things feel more than a bit chaotic.
The series veers away from the traditional, more predictable rom-com set-up, with a storybook ending and one perfect love interest, heading toward a more chaotic story of mismatched couples instead. In doing so, XO, Kitty loses a bit of the rom-com appeal, but the show makes up for it with exciting new twists.
Thanks to its brisk pace, likable characters, and consistently propulsive plot (another drama really is always just around the corner), I don’t think anyone would mind coming back for another semester.
There are a lot of balls in the air, and when they all land in the finale, you realize XO, Kitty is primed for a better, richer, more interesting season two. With all the wheel spinning the show does in its first half, we just wish it hadn’t taken so long to get there.
The series’ Scooby-Doo mysteries are never allowed to simmer; characters are prone to stating solutions outright the moment they encounter the slightest clue. None of this, however, is really a dealbreaker. As far as children’s programming goes, XO, Kitty’s cutesy love triangles and cliff-hanging endings might be enough to sustain a full-grown adult, at least through folding a pile of laundry.
Cathcart was so charming in the To All the Boys trilogy that it's a shame both her and her character's potential was wasted on a mess like XO, Kitty, with its poorly conceived premise, contrived situations played for laughs, and lack of chemistry.