Netflix has spent billions of dollars in the recent battle for peak TV to capture the attention of subscribers around the world. They’ve thrown obscenely high budgets at beloved auteurs and wheeled award campaigns in hopes of becoming the go-to stop for all your content needs. Yet, for all his investments and ambitions, what he ultimately struck gold with was a spirited teen rom-com that captured the hearts of millions.
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” became a surprise smash for Netflix, garnering strong reviews as well as a devoted fanbase. Two sequels followed, further adapted from best-selling novels by YA queen Jenny Han. With Lara Jean earning a happy ending, where else could they take the story? Now, the focus falls on Kitty, Lara Jean’s younger sister, and her search for love, identity and a classic happily-ever-after.
With Han as showrunner, “XO, Kitty” hopes to recapture the fizzy joy of its film predecessors while seeking a bite of the K-drama pie that will make for an appealing addition to Netflix and audiences alike. The deal is done.
Anna Cathcart returns as Kitty Song Covey, bubbly matchmaker who believes she has finally found true love in Dae-heon Kim (Choi Min-young). Alas, they’re separated by thousands of miles, and trying to maintain a relationship over FaceTime just isn’t cutting it anymore. Luckily for Kitty, she just got a scholarship to an exclusive school in South Korea. Seoul’s Korean Independent School (aptly abbreviated as KISS) is not only the institution Dae attends, but it is also where her late mother attended school.
It’s clearly destiny, so Kitty takes off to a new country to get her big romantic ending. At least until Kitty actually gets to school.
What worked so well was the “To All the Boys” trilogy embracing the best of romantic comedy tropes. There’s no fourth-wall talking about how potentially silly the set-up was, no sly digs or winks about its wide-eyed enthusiasm for teenage love. What it lacked in surprise, it more than made up for in the immense charm and willingness to take seriously the emotional trials of a teenage girl. At a time when the much-hyped genre was sorely lacking in cinematic presence, it helped reignite the popularity of good old fashioned romcoms, and for good reason.
“XO, Kitty” aimed for similar territory. Hey, if it ain’t broke…
Kitty is the extroverted sister, the saga’s usual Emma Woodhouse variety who jumps in before she can think. Cathcart is appropriately sweet as the title character, based on her supporting role from the films. All too well in her own way thanks to the little sister’s privilege and pure charm, she is completely unprepared for the reality of an elite school and a long-distance boyfriend that has suddenly become very real. As principal of KISS she’s got plenty of support from young actors (who are mostly, and mercifully, actual teenagers instead of 20-somethings) as well as veterans like “Lost” alum Yunjin Kim.
It’s hard to ignore the obvious influence of K-drama on “XO, Kitty,” an area of TV that shares a lot of DNA with Jenny Han’s work. Viewers familiar with series like “Crash Landing on You” and “Boys Over Flowers” will see the connective tissue both aesthetically and narratively — though “XO, Kitty” feels decidedly targeted at American audiences.
Kitty’s journey is about coming to terms with her romantic woes with her Korean heritage, and this is where the show finds some of its strongest beats. As a mixed-race Korean American raised by a single white parent, Kitty has long felt alienated from her identity, and the show gives her a chance to delve into her own history. Between teen drama and romantic entanglements, these moments provide a new layer to a familiar story.
You will not get many surprises here but it is not like that. “XO, Kitty” has a precise grasp of its audience and genre, and effectively commits to executing its rom-com premise as convincingly as possible. The appeal lies in those familiar beats, like the warm but unconvincing bad boy who tries to get Kitty home but is soon drawn to his generosity; The social media star struggles with family expectations and secrets she must keep hidden. It’s a range of such dazzling efficiency that it often looks uncanny, almost AI-esque, thanks to grandiose settings such as the fanciest schools in the Northern Hemisphere (every high school in the Netflix film looks like a cross between a Silicon Valley campus And the volcano lair of a Bond villain.)
While there are pacing issues (this is a Netflix series so such things are obviously inevitable), each episode clocks in at 30 minutes or less, which makes for a fun, frothy binge-watch. And there’s enough in here to keep you hooked beyond Kitty’s story.
You can see Han laying the groundwork for a richer, more intense season two. She’s juggling a lot of balls here, enough soapy drama to keep any teen (or young at heart) watcher hooked. As evidenced by her work on Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” she’s certainly been able to stick the landing, and “XO, Kitty” leaves one wanting more. Sure, it’s well-trodden territory, but few things are more satisfying than looking well done, especially in a genre that’s still seen as an industry-wide punching bag.
You don’t need to be a diehard “all for the boys” devotee to let “XO, Kitty” win over you.
‘XO, Kitty’ premieres Thursday, May 18 on Netflix.