First Impressions: Signing Off With Love in “XO, Kitty”
This article contains minor spoilers for XO, Kitty.
Netflix’s newest series XO, Kitty (2023) is the spin-off series centered around Katherine “Kitty” Song-Covey, Lara Jean’s sister in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018). Now the main character of her own love story, Kitty leaves behind her life in America to reconnect with the loves of her life — her late mother and current long-distance boyfriend — in South Korea. Enrolling as an exchange student, Kitty registers for more than course registration. She signs up for an academic year that juggles identity, independence, and love. With 10 episodes released on May 18, join Kitty in her junior year escapades.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Author Jenny Han opened up the world of older sister Lara Jean Song-Covey and younger sister Kitty Song-Covey in her 2014 novel To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. As the natural drama instigator and serious matchmaker, pre-teen Kitty had a natural affinity for all things love. Catalyzing her sister’s budding relationship with her crush Peter Kavinsky and her dad’s relationship with their neighbor Trina, Kitty is Portland’s own cupid. Still maintaining her fiery personality years later after her first appearance in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise, Kitty now makes her appearance as a fresh high school junior in XO, Kitty.
Summary: Operation KISS
After meeting Dae on a family trip in To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021), Kitty maintained a relationship across the Pacific Ocean with him for four years. Pouncing on the opportunity to become an exchange student in South Korea, Kitty dreams of Operation KISS—enrolling in the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS) and finally kissing her long-distance boyfriend. Discovering that her late mom went to KISS, the same school that Dae now attends, she desperately wants to join Dae in Seoul and learn more about her mom’s past as a student. After a Steve Jobs-esque presentation that convinces her dad to let her go abroad, Kitty takes a flight to find love, connection to her mom, and in the process, herself. But life at KISS quickly shatters her fantasies as Kitty realizes that her love life isn’t going as smoothly as she thought.
Kitty has it all planned out:—crash the school-wide welcome party, surprise Dae, and kiss him. Arriving on the scene and jumping into a loving embrace from Dae, she’s ecstatic as the romantic moment she’s been dreaming of is finally panning out. But the touching moment as the two finally reunite comes crashing down when she witnesses another girl clinging to his arm. Kitty realizes she’s been cheated on and collides with a cupcake tower on her way out of the party, shocked and disgusted at the revelation. Eliminating herself from any potential friends from her cupcake-smeared introduction, she’s effectively lost her love life and social life from day one. Her school life starts off on a rocky road, but in true Kitty fashion, she’s determined to claw her way out.
Kitty and Kast
Anna Cathcart as Kitty
Playing the leading lady and titular character, Anna Catchcart reprises her role as Kitty from the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before film trilogy. Cathcart originated the role when she was just 14 years old, even though Kitty was about 11 in the first movie. Returning to a 16-year-old Kitty as a 19-year-old now, Cathcart brings a new level of maturity to Kitty.
Kitty has grown up, experienced a few years of high school, and dealt with her own relationship, just like her older sisters. Now, she’s ready to take on a brave face as she starts her upperclassman years on her own. She’s still the same, cheery Kitty in love with love that audiences know, but she’s able to take her own risks and grow.
Minyeong Choi as Dae
Minyeong Choi plays Kitty’s long-term long-distance boyfriend and best friend “Dae” Heon Kim. Financially struggling, Dae receives a dicey offer from resident rich girl, Yuri — pretend to be her fake boyfriend in exchange for free tuition. Caught in a complicated “love” triangle between Yuri and Kitty, Dae is forced to choose between money and love. Having no choice but to pick money and in turn, Yuri to remain enrolled in school, he needs to convince Kitty that his supposed relationship with Yuri is all contractual.
With years of acting expertise in the Korean entertainment industry since his debut in 2014, Choi draws in viewers with his expressive internal conflict onscreen as Kitty’s initial love interest. Having appeared in other popular K-dramas such as Mr. Sunshine (2018), Itaewon Class (2020), and Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022), Choi has been active in the acting industry as many side characters. With Dae in XO, Kitty, Choi takes up his first role as a main lead for an American series.
Sang Heon Lee as Min Ho
Sang Heon Lee plays Min Ho, Dae’s hotheaded, sassy best friend. After his parents’ divorce left him alone with nothing but money, Min Ho lives a lavish lifestyle that’s fueled by his family’s absence. Yet, hidden under his fiery armor is a layer that’s a little sweeter, leading Kitty to remark on the “microscopic moments” of his more friendlier qualities. Protective over his friends and strangely gifted at domestic skills, Min Ho is an anomaly that has Kitty reeling. Bumping into Kitty in his uniform before she arrived at KISS, he snaps back at her greeting, maintaining that biting personality even after learning she’s Dae’s girlfriend. Famously known for his “anti-Kitty” attitude and generally prickly persona, their bickering is one embedded in multi-layered tension.
XO, Kitty is Lee’s debut role as a professional actor. With his role as Min Ho setting off the start of his acting career, his next role is in Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming fall 2023 film Gran Turismo.
Gia Kim as Yuri
Gia Kim plays Yuri, the wealthy daughter of the Principal of KISS with mini-celebrity status. Her arrival at the welcome party is wholly unwelcomed by Kitty, as she’s soon led to discover Yuri’s entanglement with Dae. Yet, the love triangle gets considerably more complicated when Yuri reveals her motive behind the “cheating” — paying Dae under the table only to conceal her secret relationship with her actual girlfriend. With her own struggles at simultaneously handling her own identity alongside her family’s expectations, Yuri presents a complicated character that throws every vertex of the love triangle in for a loop.
Like real-life brother Sang Heon Lee, Yuri is Gia’s first big role as a professional actor in the entertainment industry.
Anthony Keyvan as Q
Anthony Keyvan plays Q (short for Quincy), Dae’s best friend, and Kitty’s found friend. Easily the most approachable and emotionally available one of Dae’s best friend group, Q quickly becomes someone that Kitty can depend on. Offering a listening ear and helping Kitty with her plans, their relationship is built on helping each other in their respective love lives. With his crush on fellow student Florian, Q draws out Kitty’s matchmaking skills to be put to the test once again.
Like Q, Keyvan is also half Iranian and half Filipino. Known for his role as Rahim in Love, Victor (2020), Keyvan has been in the entertainment industry the longest out of the main cast of XO, Kitty. Having made his debut as a child actor at the age of five, he has made various appearances in both film and TV.
Independence Makes Identity
XO, Kitty tackles the feelings of high school unfamiliarity and all the self-discovery that comes along with it. Truly on her own for the first time, Kitty has to learn to trust her instincts and let her guard down. Thrust into harder classes, a new friend group, and new discoveries about her mom, Kitty’s matchmaking skills aren’t the only thing put to the test. Having to find herself anew in Seoul, the change forces her to find out what love, life, and family really mean.
For more XO, Kitty content check out their Instagram and watch XO, Kitty now on Netflix.
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Interested in more ACT!ON K-Drama content? Read our piece on All That We Loved here!
