Anna Cathcart Delivers Spunk And Whimsy To ‘To All The Boys I Loved Before Spinoff ‘XO, Kitty: TV Review
Katherine Song Covey (Anna Cathcart), aka Kitty, has been the dream of Generation Z ever since she appeared in the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy, Laura Jane's (Lana Condor) precocious little sister six years ago. and Margot (Janelle Parrish) moved at her own pace. Kitty's merciless, submissive and slightly curious meddling helps LJ bond with her longtime boyfriend Peter (Noah Centineo). With the new spin-off series XO Kitty, younger sister Kofi steps into the spotlight and lives the life she thinks she deserves, even with heartbreak in the process.
Created by To All the Boys writer Jenny Hahn and The Shining writer Sasha Rothschild, the series begins in Portland in the foggy final days of summer. Kitty is upset about the long-distance nature of her long-term relationship with Dae (Choi Min Young), whom she met several years ago during a family vacation in Seoul, South Korea. The sisters are away from home and she deals with her father Dan (John Corbett) and stepmother Trina (Sarayo Blue). However, Kitty refuses to give in to a "typical" school experience. Instead, he convinces his parents to let him attend the prestigious Korea Independent School (KISS) in Seoul. It's a school day where Kitty's late mother Evan is having the magical year of her life.
Confident and patient, with a giant yellow suitcase in hand, Kitty surprises Dai by traveling to Seoul for her freshman year and begins the dream romance she's always dreamed of. But reality soon catches up with her when she approaches Dae at the KISS welcome dance and finds the popular and handsome Yuri (Jia Kim) on his arm. It's certainly not the emotional reunion she intended, but in true Kitty fashion, she uses the situation to pave a new path for KISS.
Despite being humiliated by Dai and Yuri and bullied by her new classmates, Kitty remains determined to explore her Korean roots and learn more about her mother's experiences. Turning her attention away from Dai, Kitty becomes close to Q (Anthony Kevan), one of Dai's best friends, and begins to uncover past secrets about her mother and KISS director Jin-Lin (Yunjin Kim). Yuri's mother.
"XO Kitty" contains the same ingredients as the hit "To All The Boys". Although Kitty's outlook on life is less soft and frivolous than her older sister LJ's, those crazy and overwhelming emotions that accompany the first experiments and attempts to conquer space in the world are surrounded by the tone of the Italian league. There are also a few awkward and silly moments, including Kitty nearly getting hit by a car or a cupcake exploding in front of her classmates. Yet in some ways, these defining moments are at the heart of what makes adolescence unique.
Cathcart is a more mature cat than we've seen before. However, he manages to weave in the bubbling naivety and curiosity that the character so enjoyed in his youth. When everything seems chaotic, Kitty's determination and seriousness are the backbone of the series. Additionally, since XO Kitty has more space to work with than in the film, the desires and circumstances of the people around her are at stake, including her peers, rivals, and KISS friends.
With 10 episodes of 35 minutes or less, "XO Kitty" isn't exactly benchmark television. However, it is serious enough to address the issues that concern today's teenagers. The death of parents and the desire to catch up with the past are present throughout the show. Divorce, parental abandonment, financial hardship, parental support and encouragement or lack thereof, homosexuality, heterosexuality, failures of the American public school system, classism, and self-acceptance are the focus. These themes are shrouded in shades of teenage angst with a great mystery at their heart.
XO, Kitty also talks in detail about modern Seoul and modern Korean culture. Shot on location, Kitty and her friends focus mostly on the KISS campus, but the footage fills in the glittering city and even beyond the city limits with stunning examples of nature, including greenery and cherry blossoms. Except for Kitty, the characters switch between English and Korean with ease. With nods to K-pop, traditions like Chuseok, Korean skincare, and K-dramas, it's nice to see an international cast of privileged teenagers outside of the US.
While popular teen shows like Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill continue to resonate with the show's timelines, especially TBH episode 5, the vacation episode, and episode 7, "TIL," the prison episode. This episode on Saturday is very much about that moment. While it references these universal elements of being 17, romance isn't the main point of the show. Instead, "XO, Kitty" is fiercely feminist and LGBTQ+ supportive. It shines a light on a generation determined to see the world that thinks and thinks about what is right and wrong about them.
All 10 episodes of XO Kitty will be released on Netflix on May 18. Disclosure: Aramid Tinubu previously worked on the Netflix series Tudum.
