How did I not know about this To All the Boys I Loved Before spin-off series, XO, Kitty, until two weeks before it dropped on Netflix?! A crime. But thankfully I did find out about it, and it has been one of the very, very few shows I have binged in under a day.
This spin-off series follows the youngest Covey sister, Kitty, as she lobbies for and eventually succeeds in getting to spend her junior year of high school in Korea. It’s the same school her mother attended in high school and it’s also where her longtime and long-distance love, Dae, goes to school. Kitty’s first big mistake is that she decides she’s going to surprise Dae about her attendance, which is poorly timed when he agrees to help rich-girl, Yuri, out by fake dating her. He’s a good friend and promises not to tell anyone, but I do think there are some instances when that promise can be broken. Dae is a much better friend than I’d ever be.
That means a lot of the conflict in the show comes between Kitty and Dae and figuring out whether the two will end up together by the end of the season. In a room and board mishap, she ends up sharing a dorm with Dae and his two best friends Q and Min Ho. Q and Kitty quickly strike up a close friendship and he remains her sounding board for the majority of the show. I love that this series features not one, but two queer characters. One, in the form of Q trying to secure a relationship with a French student, and the other is Yuri! I was surprised by how quickly this was revealed and also not surprised by how much her parents wanted to keep this part of her covered up.
Some relationships go in some very interesting directions and we freaking better get another season because I can tell you now that it ends in a cliffhanger. There are plenty of reasons why she should choose to pursue any one of the options presented to us, but I have literally no clue what she’ll end up doing. Something I found that I really enjoyed in the show were the new adults at the school and a big part of Kitty’s time there. The most precious is the new Australian teacher, Professor Alex Finnerty, who’s storyline weaves so interestingly with Yuri’s mother, along with hardass teacher, Professor Daniel Lee. I really thought I had that thread in the story all figured out and still got it wrong! A real juicy storyline regardless.
I don’t want to say much else for fear of ruining the show for you, but this series was such a fun watch! I’d say it falls very neatly into the comfort-viewing category, just like the original film. I was glad to see that author of the original characters, Jenny Han, had a major role in this series, and again, I hope that we get more!