This season, back in lead roles, Kitty (Anna Cathcart), Dae (Choi Min-Yeong), Yuri (Gia Kim), and Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee) reunite as they return to the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS) for their senior year and reconnect with their past, present and future. With Season 2 ending on a cliffhanger, the big question continues to linger in everyone’s heads: Will Kitty finally choose Min Ho?
“XO, Kitty” returns to our screens with a symbolic backdrop of beautiful, pink cherry blossoms in the heart of Seoul, Korea, signaling a fresh beginning. However, while the scenery and the character’s signature bright-colored outfits remained strong, the substance beneath all that jazz felt significantly boring this time around. Despite perfectly capturing the bittersweet nature of the senior year of high school, the season overall struggled to live up to the expectations that the previous seasons had set for the audience.
The lackluster quality is primarily because all the artistic choices didn’t feel intentional and often felt like the scenes occurring had no relation to the backdrop. Not only that, but a lot of the cinematography and scenes in general seemed to be a copy-paste of the same framework as Jenny Han’s other book-to-TV show adaptation, “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” These were also not just similarities in scenes. Some dialogues were the same in certain parts of the show, especially in the fifth and eighth episodes, which featured the most conflict and drama. This makes one wonder whether there’s a broader originality crisis within the romantic TV show genre, and more specifically, within Han’s book universe as it’s translated into the entertainment world.
Additionally, compared to the past two seasons, there wasn’t enough presence of Kitty’s character in the show, and instead, too much focus on Yuri’s fashion design story and the new characters Marius (Sule Thelwell) and Gigi (Christine Hwang)’s character development. Though shedding light on other characters is important for a story to feel balanced, this season spent too much time on the backstories of characters that didn’t move the plot forward. For background, Gigi is Min Ho’s first love, and Marius is Kitty’s best friend Q’s summer fling while he was away from his boyfriend.
These new characters felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything new to Kitty’s side of the world. There was also a lack of character growth on her part, as she still seemed the same immature, gullible person she was in the previous two seasons. Despite Kitty’s sister Lara Jean (Lana Condor) making a surprise appearance, the cameo felt out of place and slightly random to the overall plot of the story, as if it were sort of a fan service or a way to boost the show’s viewership.
Moreover, one of the most distracting elements of Season 3 is its production quality. The acting often feels overdone, and the soundtrack is a major miss, as few of the songs seem to fit the exact mood of the scenes they accompany. There are, of course, some exceptions, like the use of “Moral of the Story” by Ashe during the pivotal scene that occurs at the mid-way point of the show, paralleling the same situation that occurred in the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” universe between Peter and Lara. This felt like a smart choice, as it highlighted the similarities between both Kitty’s and Min Ho’s relationships and her sister Lara’s relationship with her situationship/boyfriend Peter.
In fact, the only highlight of the season, and perhaps its only saving grace, is the awkward tension between Kitty and Min Ho. It was the chef’s kiss for their character development arc and created moments of struggle, power and love between them. Regardless, the writing for this season couldn’t maintain that same momentum throughout the show. While the tension begins with a sense of hope and realism in how their characters are portrayed, it eventually circles back into something that feels silly or over-exaggerated rather than romantic or compelling to watch.
Ultimately, “XO, Kitty” Season 3 felt like a rushed concept that failed to build on the foundations laid down by the previous two seasons. Instead of a satisfying progression, fans are left with a series that feels unoriginal and ultimately upsetting. If you are looking for a show that actually handles elements of love and romance more carefully, I would highly recommend checking out the K-Drama series “Business Proposal” or another Jenny Han adaptation, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
