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Spoilers below.
While watching XO, Kitty’s second season, I often thought of the Marie Kondo meme: “I’m so excited, because I love mess.” It’s true: Kitty Song Covey’s (Anna Cathcart) adventures in Seoul are not always smooth sailing. And although she’s the so-called “chaos queen,” she is not the sole cause for trouble this time. We have a new addition, Stella (Audrey Huynh), to thank for that.
She arrives on the scene as one of Kitty’s new roommates at the Korean International School of Seoul (KISS), making a lovely first impression as a sweet Christian girl from Ohio. She’s happy to find a fellow Korean American friend in Kitty and easily melds into her friend group, but once she starts pursuing Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee), things get fishy. She ignores calls from her mother, who calls her “Esther” and begs her to come back home. Stella replies that being here, on whatever secret mission she’s on, is “what I deserve.”
As the season progresses, Kitty starts to piece together Esther’s mysterious background and scheme: She once auditioned for a singing reality show with hopes of becoming a star, but was harshly shut down by one judge, talent agent Mr. Moon (Philippe Lee), who’s also Min Ho’s dad. He said Stella didn’t have “the look” to become a star, which led her to respond, between sobs, “But, beauty comes from within!” The internet promptly turned her audition footage into a meme and trending sound on TikTok, sending her into hiding. To seek her revenge, Esther disguised herself (with the help of a nose job) and enrolled in KISS and sought out a relationship with Min Ho as a means to get close to his dad. Her plan only got more intense from there: She leaked claims about Mr. Moon bullying and mistreating his staff. And when she won him over, she gifted him a vintage clock, which turned out to be bugged, to get even more tea on Mr. Moon and take his empire down. Her final act (besides her baddie glow-up in episode 7)? Winning Mr. Moon’s talent competition for KISS students. She even blackmails Min Ho into letting her win, or else she’ll leak the news that his brother, pop star Jin Ho, got his backup dancer pregnant. Still with us?
Audrey Huynh as Stella.
The season 2 finale begins shortly after Stella reveals this grand plan to Min Ho, ahead of the talent contest. Min Ho is noticeably different after the bombshell news, and Kitty can sense something is up. Backstage at the showcase, she pulls him aside, and he spills. They decide to get ahead of Stella’s scheme and tell Mr. Moon directly, though Min Ho fears the news will make his father lose his trust in him. But it’s in their meeting with Mr. Moon—and Min Ho’s brother, Joon Ho, played by K-pop star Peniel—that they come up with a strategy around Stella’s blackmail. It turns out the woman Joon Ho got pregnant isn’t just a secret side piece; she’s the love of his life. He doesn’t mind the news getting out, so it’s better if he announces it himself. Right now, starting a family is far more important than his career and fans. Mr. Moon, hoping to become a better father (and now, grandfather), supports his son’s decision.
Philippe Lee as Young Moon.
As the talent showcase begins, and Mr. Moon descends upon the stage in a giant, well, moon, the student-trainees get ready backstage. A suspiciously cheery Stella hands out drinks to her fellow classmates, including Dae’s (Minyeong Choi) new love interest, Eunice (Han Bi Ryu). But Dae, who was informed on Stella’s motives, knows she can’t be trusted. He knocks the beverage out of Eunice’s hands before she gets onstage, saving her act. She proceeds to give a star-making performance of “OMG” by NewJeans, looking like she’d fit right into the girl group. And though her high heel breaks on stage—Stella was responsible for that—Eunice handles it like a pro, removing both of her shoes so she can continue dancing and singing seamlessly.
Dae wasn’t safe from sabotage either. All his dancers got sick from their drinks and fled, and his track is now missing. But Kitty & co. have a solution for that too: Their principal, Professor Lee, will accompany Dae on electric guitar! Kitty and her friends will be his backup dancers! Jin (Joshua Lee), Q’s track star boyfriend who hurt his ankle, actually faked his injury and is totally fine to dance! Also, somehow everyone has learned the choreography in a matter of minutes! (I never said XO, Kitty wasn’t ridiculous. In fact, teenage shenanigans in the Jenny Han universe often are. Remember last season in The Summer I Turned Pretty when Belly and her friends got tangled in a real-estate battle? But these silly antics that challenge your suspension of disbelief are also what make the shows so fun.)
Kitty and her friends’ last-minute hustle is totally worth it as they help Dae put on an idol-worthy performance of “Seven” by Jung Kook. (Don’t get too excited, it’s the clean version.) It looked like a genuinely fun moment for the cast and a lovely showcase of Choi’s singing and dancing chops. (HYBE, are you watching?) Stella is seething that her sabotage backfired, and things only get worse for her when Joon Ho takes the stage before she’s able to perform. In the spotlight, the K-pop star brings out Eunji, whom he introduces to fans as the mother of his child, and proceeds to propose to her in front of the whole audience. She says yes, and the happy couple kiss in the spotlight. Stella’s blackmail plan is officially moot. Mr. Moon sends her on the first plane back to Ohio, though he does genuinely apologize for being cruel to her in the past. Before the security guards can drag her out the door, Min Ho asks Stella if any of her feelings for him were real. Not at first, she says, but she did end up liking him. Though, she did sense that his heart was elsewhere (read: with Kitty). Stella exits, returning home to her life as Esther.
With most of Mr. Moon’s trainees removed from the competition, the only two competitors left standing are Dae and Eunice. The stakes are high for Dae; his dad, who works as a driver, was hospitalized after getting into an accident on the job, so he hopes to put the prize money toward the medical expenses. But in the end, Eunice bumps him out of the winning spot, earning not only cash but also an opening slot in Joon Ho’s summer tour. In all honesty, she was a little more prepared than Dae was, but the twist leaves viewers wondering about his father’s fate.
Minyeong Choi as Dae and Sungwook Lee as Mr. Kim.
Backstage after the show, we find out that Juliana (Regan Aliyah) and Praveena (Sasha Bhasin) are a thing now! Yuri (Gia Kim) is a bit surprised, but she’s not one to talk after cheating on Juliana with Kitty. After everything they’ve been through this season, she and Juliana end on good terms as friends, though she really wishes that Juliana wanted her back.
Dae’s father then makes a surprise appearance in crutches to congratulate his son and share an interesting development: There’s going to be a class action lawsuit against his employer, the Han Group, so they should be compensated well enough to cover the medical bills. While that’s good news for Dae’s family, that’s a big problem for Yuri—Han Group is her dad’s company. Elsewhere at the performance venue, her half-brother Alex (Peter Thurnwald) tells her the same news, with far less exciting delivery. It turns out that when the siblings were shopping earlier and Yuri’s credit cards were declined, that was because of the lawsuit—her father’s assets were already frozen.
In other family news, Kitty has a reunion to facilitate between her halmoni (grandmother, played by Jenny Han’s IRL mom) and great-aunt Soon Ja (Jung Hye-sun). When her halmoni and sister Margot’s (Janel Parrish) flight to Korea gets canceled, Min Ho lends his father’s private plane to save the day. The resulting family gathering is a sweet tear-jerker, a stark departure from the rest of the episode. Amid all the teenage romantic messiness throughout the season, this is the only couple that matters. Here are two sisters seeing each other for the first time in 50 years, putting behind their grudges and embracing each other with open arms—while another pair of sisters, Kitty and Margot, proudly look on. Lara Jean might be missing from the trio, but just like in the To All The Boys trilogy, sisterhood is the heartbeat at the center of this rom-com. The two pairs, joined by Kitty’s cousin Jiwan (Hojo Shin), go inside Soon Ja’s home to perform a Jesa ritual for Kitty and Margot’s late mother, Eve. It’s peaceful and heartwarming to see all of this nurturing female energy all in one room; I wish the scene lasted a little bit longer.
Hojo Shin as Jiwon, Jung Hye-sun as Soon Ja, and Anna Cathcart as Kitty.
Back at KISS, Kitty is ecstatic to learn her scholarship has been renewed, but things are less certain when it comes to her feelings about Min Ho. With a little encouragement from Q (Anthony Keyvan), she decides to find him and tell him how she really feels. But Min Ho is on his way out. After all the craziness that went down with Stella, he’s going to take a break from relationships for a bit and join his brother and dad on the summer tour. Even though he and Kitty give each other a big, romantic embrace (that could have easily become a kiss!), she doesn’t share how he feels about him just yet. She has another idea: Before Min Ho gets into his car and drives off, she asks if she can come with him. He nods. She chases after him.
Will XO, Kitty season 3, if confirmed, follow Kitty and Min Ho’s adventures (and possible romance) on the road? Or will she find a way to get back together with Yuri? After this season gave us multiple love interests, a surprise scammer plot, and a dabble into the K-pop world, we wouldn’t be surprised if next season went even bigger and bolder, and even a little more chaotic.