Kitty’s “Seoul” Searching for Love!

‘Kitty’s “Seoul Searching for Love!

By Bella Ondevilla

Picking up from the cliffhanger of season one, season two of XO, Kitty, released January 16 on Netflix, follows the story of Kitty returning to the Korean International School of Seoul (KISS). Navigating academics, culture, and a potential love triangle, Kitty is at a crossroads of discovering herself abroad. This article reviews the contents of seasons one and two, so spoiler warning ahead!!!

Season two begins with Kitty arriving in Seoul for her second semester at KISS, ready to start on a new foot. With the drama of Minho’s airplane love confession, Yuri-Juliana-Kitty’s one-sided love triangle, and the recent heartbreak with Dae, Kitty has a lot weighing on her shoulders. 

My favorite part this season is the numerous parallel references to the first To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie. From the Kitty-Min Ho hot tub scene to Minho’s cheeky “Covey” nickname for Kitty, it was a great fan service to both the book readers and movie fans. 

“The memories from the previous movies were one of my favorite parts of the whole season, even the music they played when Peter’s cameo was exciting to watch,” said sophomore, Kenzie Martinsen. 

Another thing I liked about the season was diving deeper into the messy queer teenage drama of it all. Exhibit A, is the infamous “love octagon,” as named by XO, Kitty’s acting coach, Colleen Foy, on TikTok. Consisting of Kitty, Yuri, Juliana, Praveena, Min Ho, Stella, Dae, and Eunice, Everyone was dating or pinning over someone and it was surely an entertaining romantic mess. 

Season two explores Kitty’s queer identity in a very realistic way because it leaves lots of room for her to experiment and figure herself out with her newly discovered sexuality. She didn’t have a clearcut understanding of who she truly was yet and I think that’s very representative of so many people’s journeys, and so refreshing in comparison to previous examples of queer representation when the protagonist is often confronted with having to ultimately end up with a boy or girl. Kitty was allowed to, yes be messy, but also discover herself gradually through out the season and build confidence with her identity.

One of my biggest criticisms of the show is the pacing of it all, I think that many plotlines left rushed or brushed over quickly. The most significant example of this is the Kitty-Yuri plotline, considering it was such a large plotline of season one, being one of the season-finale cliffhangers, the plotline felt very brushed over to leave more room for Kitty and Min Ho. Which was controversial to some fans. 

“I wish they stayed more on that storyline, I think that it would have been interesting to see Kitty and Yuri together even for a few more episodes,” said Martinsen. 

Season two ends off with a neat bow, wrapping many of the plot points with a satisfying, and heartwarming ending, as Kitty reunites her grandmother with her great aunt. That part was definitely a highlight of the season. 

“I definitely can’t wait to see what they bring for season three, hopefully for Min Ho and Kitty,” says Martinsen.