K.I.S.S and Miss

A long awaited season 3 of XO Kitty falls short of expectations.

Avani Madabhushanam, Staff writer

April 20, 2026

Scene from XO Kitty picturing Kitty (Anna Cathcart) and Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee).

And just like that, another semester of K.I.S.S has come to an end.

On April 2, the spinoff to Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I Loved Before trilogy, XO Kitty, released its third season. The show follows Kitty Song Covey (played by Anna Cathcart), an energetic, empathetic romantic instigator who happens to go to a high school in Korea, where she learns more about friendships, romance and Korean culture.

After leaving viewers with a cliffhanger at the end of season two, fans were in a continuous state of eager anticipation seeking closure on Kitty’s romantic journey with fellow K.I.S.S student, Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee.) And such anticipation did not go unnoticed. According to Variety, within the first few days of its release the show amassed over 12.9 million viewers, scrambling to the top of the Netflix charts.

However, these staggering numbers seem almost too good to be true, begging the question: Do these perfect statistics reflect how the fans were feeling while watching the show?

Which the answer to that is, definitely not. After scrolling through social media and talking to others, the consensus of this season was that it was “cringe.” Which, as a day one XO Kitty fan, I can agree with this harsh truth. Prior to the third season, a portion of people labeled it as cringe, whom I’d readily disagree with, but it’s not until now that I had understood their viewpoint. Including scenes like when Kitty was wearing Eunice’s (Ryu Han-bi) dress and turned into an in-person disco ball made it almost routine to turn off my laptop and take a break from the secondhand embarrassment. It felt like they were almost forcing a romance to get one like “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” yet in trying so hard to replicate the formula, the show miserably failed to create something truly memorable.

And not even that, it felt as though both the producers and writers were throwing the entire plot line out of the show, giving viewers nothing but chaos. Fans were expecting a slow burn into the reality of Kitty and Min Ho’s relationship after anticipating it for the past two years. And while they got to experience some of their progression, going from enemies to friends to lovers, it felt as though the transitions were happening too quickly, without fully exploring the emotional depth fans were looking for. I get it, Jenny Han was trying to give the fans what they wanted, but the lack of properly paced emotional build up made watching years of pent-up romance wash away in matter of 40 minutes.

Of course, some parts of the show had good potential. The cameo of Lara Jean (Lana Condor) guiding Kitty through her confusing relationship status with Min Ho, while also dealing with her own relationship with Peter back in New York, had me feeling intrigued, as I was hoping for one last Lara Jean appearance. Yet, after finishing the season, I felt that it failed to meet my expectations and left me without feeling content.

Though the next season of XO Kitty has not been confirmed yet, fans hope for it to be a step up from the previous season, with stronger character development, deeper storylines and more satisfying romantic arcs.

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About the Contributor

Avani Madabhushanam, Staff Writer

Avani Madabhushanam is an IB sophomore at Robinson High School and a staff writer on the Knight Writers. This is her first year on newspaper staff. Three words Madabhushanam would use to describe herself is friendly, vocal and dependable. She decided to join journalism to get more involved in academic activities within Robinson. “I wanted to get involved in a school activity besides sports,” Madabhushanam said. “I think joining newspaper will allow me to reach out to different people in other grades and overall learn more about our school.” When asked about her plans for her future within journalism, Madabhushanam hopes to work on her skills and one day have a leadership position on staff. “I want to continue doing newspaper for the next three years of high school, and better my writing skills in general. I hope to move up the ranks within the staff so that I can teach people what I’ll learn this year, and just continue to pass knowledge down,” she said. Outside of journalism, other passions of Madabhushanam’s at Robinson include playing volleyball on our school team and being involved in Student Government. She is excited to join HOSA this year, as she hopes to one day enter the medical field and become a doctor. When not focused on school, Madabhushanam enjoys practicing her volleyball skills at home, going shopping and binge-watching her favorite TV shows. She has a couple favorite shows she likes to rewatch in free time. “I would say Gilmore Girls is definitely up there and Gossip Girl,” Madabhushanam said. (Profile by Ryan Rolle)