XO, Kitty’s third season is an easy, bingeable watch, but it lacks a real sense of substance, and those struggles begin with the show’s title character.
For a show called XO, Kitty, Kitty Song-Covey, herself, has no real plot of her own. As per usual, Kitty finds a way to get involved with everyone else’s life, but season 3 is significantly underwhelming in terms of Kitty’s own storyline, especially if you remove the Min Ho plot.
Min Ho, as Kitty’s main love interest, takes up most of Kitty’s time and energy. If she is not with Min Ho, she is thinking about Min Ho or worrying about keeping up in the rich and luxurious world that Min Ho has spent his entire life in, which is a stark contrast to Kitty’s life in Portland. Of the two of them, Min Ho has a lot going on.
By taking on the role of Eunice’s manager, Min Ho’s main concerns are helping Eunice in her career and dealing with his father's high expectations. However, his professional interest in the music industry also sees Min Ho's storyline branching out as he starts a music collaboration with Dae. Min Ho also reunites with an ex-love, Gigi, in his new professional setting.
While Kitty works herself into a mess, worried that she does not fit into Min Ho’s world, Min Ho never gives that concern a second thought. Due to that, season 3 is open for him to have many other plot lines, which has the potentially unintended consequence of turning him into the season’s main character.
Outside of thinking about Min Ho, Kitty has almost nothing going on for herself. And, outside of her attempt at match-making and trying to be there for Yuri, there is nothing that Kitty is actively trying to do other than be with Min Ho, even though XO Kitty sets up several storylines that could have allowed her potential for growth and development to have a larger role.
These problems begin early in the second episode, where Kitty reveals that after spending her summer with Lara Jean in New York, she has decided to attend NYU in the fall. Kitty is so in love with the school that it is later revealed that she is willing to fully commit herself to the university by applying early decision.
However, XO, Kitty was never interested in allowing the audience to see Kitty explore the school. Why did she fall in love with NYU? What about the school or New York City felt like a good fit? What does Kitty even want to major in? If part of Kitty’s arc was going to be uncertainty about the future, regardless of whether that future included Min Ho or not, then XO, Kitty would have benefited from her character development by either showing or at least explaining why NYU was the right school. Instead, it feels less like an exciting moment of character growth and more like an obstacle in the way of Kitty and Min Ho’s reconciliation when Min Ho discovers that Kitty will be returning to New York full-time the following fall to attend NYU.
The other main plot that season 3 fails to fully explore for Kitty is her alleged struggles in Korean Literature, her required class to graduate from KISS. Toward the beginning of Kitty’s time in the class, she is not doing well. A few episodes later, Kitty is thrilled by having gotten high grades in all of her classes, including Korean Literature.
While Kitty references having studied harder for the class, that is never actually shown. All the audience is privy to is Kitty attempting to gain an extension on an assignment and her “tutoring sessions” with Min Ho, which appear less educational and more like an opportunity to flirt. After Kitty sees that her grades are solid, her concerns about academics go away.
While Kitty may still be at the center of the show, it is Min Ho who has the most going on in his life. He is the one whose daily actions seem to have more stakes and consequences surrounding them, as he faces legitimate concerns over his and Eunice’s futures during and after Eunice’s false pregnancy scare.
Otherwise, XO, Kitty did well enough balancing out the rest of its ensemble cast, even if the show struggles to truly embrace consequences. Even after Yuri’s family's financial fall, she still attends KISS by selling her clothes to classmates. However, with the exception of Yuri getting a job and being upset that she does not get special treatment at an amusement park, not much about her arc really screams that anything of strong financial significance has occurred. Dae has the opposite problem. His family has found a financial fortune, but with the exception of the new restaurant, there is nothing that really delves into the ways his life has changed.
Perhaps XO, Kitty’s most substantial and consequential story arc comes from the side plot that things are no longer sailing so easily for longtime couple, Lara Jean Song-Covey and Peter Kavinsky.
The fan-favorite couple that started it all from the success of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy is apparently facing the consequences of the struggles of spending roughly five years in a long-distance relationship. This decision is one of the most relatable avenues that season 3 takes, and it's one of the only examples of actual stakes and the realities that things may not always work out. Although Lara Jean and Peter do end up back together, deciding to commit to work out their relationship from their respective homes in California and New York, it still shone a light on the fact that relationships take work, and distance can be a legitimate strain on a relationship, even if the love is still there.
XO, Kitty, even as a series with romance being a main theme, spent far too long focused on it in season 3. The first two seasons, even with the love story plots, still made sure that plenty of Kitty’s screen time was devoted to better understanding her mother’s history in Korea and unraveling family history.
With those mostly solved, Kitty’s main storyline was left to just wondering and hoping that her relationship with Min Ho was going to work out. The direction of the season keeps Kitty stuck in one space instead of moving forward. She may have taken steps forward, such as applying to and being accepted at NYU. However, with XO, Kitty’s devotion to romance over everything else in season 3, it prevented Kitty from continuing to grow in Seoul, especially considering how Kitty’s connection to the city was meant to play a major role in her development as a person.