Before Kitty Song Covey heads back to Korean Independent School of Seoul for senior year, it is worth revisiting just how much changed since she hopped off a plane at ICN with a dream and her oversized yellow suitcase.
A spinoff of Jenny Hanโs beloved To All the Boys Iโve Loved Before universe, XO, Kitty (2023) follows Lara Jeanโs adorable, meddling little sister, played by Anna Cathcart, as she heads to Seoul expecting a love story and finds herself caught up in something much messier, from shifting feelings to family revelations. Two seasons in, Kittyโs time at KISS has turned into far more than a study abroad adventure (set to a awesome soundtrack), it has reshaped her relationships, her sense of self, and her connection to her late mother.
Below, EnVi recaps everything you need to know before the Season 3 premiere on April 2.
New School, Same Kitty
When Kitty first arrived in Seoul, she thought she knew exactly what this chapter of her life was supposed to be. She was finally closing the distance with Dae (Minyeong Choi), her long distance boyfriend she met on a family trip to Seoul, depicted in To All The Boys: Always and Forever (2021). And she was also attending the same school her late mother once did, stepping into what felt like the start of her own grand love story. Instead, KISS threw her into chaos almost immediately. Dae appeared to be dating the school โIt Girlโ Yuri (Gia Kim), leaving Kitty blindsided before she had even settled in. But as the season unfolded, that betrayal turned out to be more complicated than it first seemed: Dae and Yuriโs relationship was really a cover for Yuriโs secret lesbian romance with Juliana (Regan Aliyah).
That early twist set the tone for the rest of the first season. Nothing at KISS was as simple as it looked, and Kitty quickly found herself pulled into a world where everyone seemed to be hiding something. Her feelings also became harder to sort through. What first read as confusion or frustration around Yuri slowly revealed itself to be something deeper, forcing Kitty to confront the fact that her emotions were not as straightforward as she thought.
At the same time, the people around Kitty were never just side characters in her story. Daeโs choices were shaped in part by his familyโs financial struggles, which gave real weight to decisions that might otherwise have looked simply messy. Yuriโs coldness made more sense the more the season revealed how much she was trying to protect, between her relationship with Juliana, her familyโs expectations, and the image she felt pressured to maintain. Even Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee), who initially came across as little more than arrogant and irritating, began to show signs of something more vulnerable underneath his attitude, especially as the season hinted at how strained his family life really was.
Q (Anthony Keyvan), who stayed one of Kittyโs closest friends as everything around her got messier, had his own relationship to navigate, and his storyline helped round out the series beyond just Kittyโs chaos. The show also spent time building out the adults around KISS, especially through Professor Alex (Peter Thurnwald), whose own search for answers about his biological family gave the show another emotional beat.
That is part of what made the first season such a success, reaching 72 million hours viewed in its first week, landing in the top ten in 90 countries. It delivered romance and teen drama, but it also made KISS feel like a real ecosystem of secrets, school pressure, unresolved emotions, and much more. Between Kittyโs growing connection to the school through her motherโs past and the increasingly tangled relationships around her, Seoul quickly became the place where everything Kitty thought she understood about love and about herself started to shift.
By the time the season came to a close, Kitty had lost Dae, nearly lost her place at KISS, and found herself more emotionally entangled in the lives of the people around her than ever. Then came the final twist that really changed the trajectory of the series. In a cliche rom-com style last-minute reveal that reframed everything, just before Kitty left Korea, Min Ho admitted he had feelings for her. Which instantly made the season ending feel more like the beginning of an entirely new mess and not the closure the audience had hoped for.
Back for Round Two
The second season began with Kitty making her way back to KISS after Yuri helped get her expulsion reversed, giving her a second chance at the school and at everything she left unfinished in Seoul. This time, though, the season was not built around the same central romantic chaos as before. A major part of Kittyโs story centered on learning more about her motherโs past, which pulled her deeper into her family history and made her connection to Korea feel even more personal.
Kitty is not nearly as caught up in Yuri the way she was before, and instead a lot more of the season starts to revolve around Min Ho. Their dynamic still has all the banter and irritation that made them fun in season one, but there is clearly more going on underneath it now, and the show lets that build in a way that feels a lot more natural than if it had tried to force some big romantic payoff too early.
The student body also expands with Juliana officially enrolling, and new faces like Praveena (Sasha Bhasin), Jin (Joshua Lee), and Stella (Han Bi Ryu) entering the mix. That change gives the season a broader ensemble feel from the start that is felt throughout the season, whether in the everyday social tension at school or in bigger moments like the winter trip.
What first seems like a pretty normal new-roommate situation with Stella and Kitty turns into a much bigger issue once it becomes clear that she is not just stirring up random drama, she is actually going after Min Ho and his family. That whole storyline ends up pushing Kitty and Min Ho even closer together as they work through it side by side. By that point it becomes clear that the show is setting up for them to be end game. The one and only Peter Kavinsky also makes an appearance, bringing Kittyโs story back into the To All the Boys universe.
By the end of the season, Kitty has a much stronger understanding of her mother, her family, why being in Korea matters to her in the way that it does, and the season leaves her in a very different place emotionally and with much more maturity than where she started.
One Last Year at KISS
We know season 3 picks up with Kitty heading back to KISS for her senior year, this time with a much clearer idea of what she wants and how to get it. After a summer on tour, Netflix has already teased that she is heading into the year with a plan. All she wants is to make meaningful memories with her friends, get closer to her relatives in Korea, make decisions about her future, and finally define whatever is going on between her and Min Ho.
This upcoming season is also bringing in a few new faces at KISS and around Kittyโs orbit, with Sule Thelwell joining as Marius, Soy Kim as Yisoo, and Christine Heesun Hwang as Gigi, while Hojo Shinโs Jiwon has been upped to series regular.ย
At the same time, Lana Condorโs return as Lara Jean marks the first time Kittyโs older sister will appear in the series, pulling XO, Kitty back into the larger To All the Boys universe just as Kitty heads into her final year. Itโs a true full-circle moment for the franchise, with audiences now having watched all three Song Covey sisters prepare for college, starting with eldest sister Margot in To All the Boys Iโve Loved Before (2018).
With senior year now underway, the third season looks ready to deliver all the things that make the end of an era hit hard. Expect cheesy K-drama-esque moments, fresh drama, college decisions, senior stress and maybe even a little senioritis, and, in true senior-year fashion, a reminder that maybe it really is about the friends we’ve made along the way.
Make sure to tune into XO Kitty Season 3 on Netflix starting April 2.
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