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When followers of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy heard that there can be a spin-off sequence starring Lara Jean Song Covey’s (Lana Condor) little sister, Kitty (Anna Cathcart), we had been excited to see this scene stealer carry her personal present. Unfortunately, XO, Kitty has not one of the allure and humor that made us fall in love with Kitty within the first place. It tries, to the purpose of overkill — however the plotlines are so contrived and admittedly ridiculous that this sequel would not even attain so-bad-it’s-good territory.
For the uninitiated, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before follows teenager Lara Jean Song Covey, who needs to search out real love so badly that she writes letters to all of the boys she’s ever had a crush on. She retains the letters secure in a field, figuring out that the fellows she’s pined for won’t ever learn them — till Kitty finds the letters and mails them as a means to assist her sister discover real love. One of the boys, Peter (Noah Centineo), is the favored child at Lara Jean’s college and, by the point he receives her letter, she under no circumstances nonetheless has the emotions for him that she used to. When he reads the letter, although, he proposes that he and Lara Jean enter right into a faux relationship as a means for him to ultimately win again his ex-girlfriend. Of course, this being primarily based on a Jenny Han rom-com YA novel, they find yourself falling in love with one another. Two subsequent movies and books — P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever — proceed Peter and Lara Jean’s story via the top of highschool as they navigate their means towards faculty and life past. Kitty performs an integral function of their relationship; in a way, she’s the one who introduced them collectively, so she fancies herself a matchmaker.
Kitty’s matchmaker tendencies and a faux relationship each come into play in her spinoff sequence, and neither conceit works practically in addition to within the To All the Boys trilogy. When her household, which is half-Korean, takes a visit to Korea in Always and Forever, Kitty meets and falls for Dae (Minyeong Choi), with whom she begins a long-distance relationship. She continuously refers to him as her greatest pal and boyfriend, and he or she FaceTimes with him continuously. So, when she will get the possibility, Kitty applies for a scholarship to the Korean Independent School of Seoul — KISS, for brief — the place Dae occurs to be a pupil. Kitty frames it as a visit designed for her to study extra about her mom, who handed away earlier than the occasions of To All the Boys and in addition went to KISS. Because there would not be a present if he did not, Kitty’s dad Dan (John Corbett) agrees to let her go midway all over the world for her junior 12 months of highschool. It takes little or no convincing on Kitty’s half. After a slideshow presentation designed to convey how a lot she needs to go, and with encouragement from her stepmom, Trina (Sarayu Blue), Dad says sure. Only after Kitty leaves the room does he notice he simply agreed to let his youngest daughter journey to a overseas nation, principally to have intercourse together with her boyfriend.
‘XO, Kitty’s Premise Is the First of Many Contrivances
Kitty is 16 and apparently goes to the airport by herself to fly to South Korea for a 12 months — by no means thoughts that she would not appear to know any Korean past “good day” and remains to be a minor. At the airport, she sees a boy (Sang Heon Lee) in a KISS blazer who pretends to not converse English when she approaches him. He’ll come into play later, don’t be concerned. Because after all he’ll. Kitty would not inform Dae she’s coming as a result of she needs to shock him. But when she lastly will get to see him once more at KISS’s welcome occasion, she finds out he has a girlfriend, Yuri (Gia Kim). And so begins a sequence of quite a few misunderstandings performed for laughs that do not work — as a result of what number of occasions can an individual be interrupted once they’re about to say one thing vital? At some level, you are really going to get the phrases out. Apparently not on this planet of this present, although, and it is extremely irritating to observe.
As with most rom-coms, the plotlines are completely anticipated and predictable. That may very well be forgiven, nevertheless, should you’re actually invested within the relationships of the present. Unfortunately, it is troublesome to get invested in any a part of XO, Kitty, particularly its love tales. There’s a faux relationship with no chemistry, and there is a supposed actual relationship with no chemistry — between Kitty and Dae. Granted, their scenario began as a long-distance factor, however absolutely there needs to be some spark once they see one another in particular person once more. In reality, Kitty has been bragging to her older sisters that she’s going to have her first kiss at KISS (Get it? How might you not?), however every time the second appears primed to occur, it feels pressured due to the dearth of on-screen connection between Kitty and Dae. The solely chemistry to be present in XO, Kitty occurs between Dae’s pal Q (Anthony Keyvan) and his crush, Florian (Théo Augier Bonaventure), though that is a facet plot, not the primary romance of the present.
What’s extra irritating is that regardless of being half-Korean and having visited Korea earlier than, Kitty appears fully unaware of the tradition, to not point out the aforementioned language barrier. At one level, she serves her well-known mashed potatoes at a vacation occasion, blissfully unaware that almost all Koreans are lactose illiberal. Cue the poop jokes and folks working to the restroom to alleviate themselves. One of essentially the most evident discrepancies within the tradition is that Kitty finally ends up rooming with Dae, Q, and Min Ho (the man from the airport) as a result of she did not perceive the dorm room assignments. It’s troublesome to droop the disbelief {that a} supposedly conservative college would make such an oversight — after which not even catch onto the truth that there is a woman within the boys’ dorm after the very fact. The rooming mix-up is simply one of many many wholly unbelievable conditions Kitty will get herself into.
It’s additionally a little bit of a stretch to see so many characters defaulting to talking English reasonably than Korean. Given the setting, it could make sense that the sequence would come with extra scenes the place KISS’s school, workers, and college students are wielding the native language. Part of the issue is that a number of of the sequence’ actors really feel far more stilted once they must ship their strains in English. It would have doubtless solely benefited their performances if they’d been given the flexibility to make use of their native tongue, as their characters would most probably do of their native nation. Unfortunately, the very premise of XO, Kitty would not assist this facet of the present — as a result of its titular character, who’s attending college for a 12 months in Korea, would not converse the language.
Cathcart was so charming within the To All the Boys trilogy that it is a disgrace each her and her character’s potential was wasted on a multitude like XO, Kitty, with its poorly conceived premise, contrived conditions performed for laughs, and lack of chemistry. If YA rom-coms are what you are within the temper for, then you definately’d be a lot better served by rewatching the franchise’s authentic films, one other sequence primarily based on Han’s books (like The Summer I Turned Pretty), or maybe even a good Okay-drama.
Rating: D-
XO, Kitty premieres May 18 on Netflix.