Tag: Secrets

This article contains major character or plot details.

XO, Kitty’s Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) has always been an agent of chaos. Never forget that she’s the one who mailed the letters her older sister Lara Jean had written to her crushes, sparking the events of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before film trilogy. 

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that she’s managed to wreak havoc all over the Korean International School of Seoul, which she decides to attend for her junior year of high school in XO, Kitty Season 1. Despite having been kicked out after breaking one too many rules, Kitty is back in Seoul for Season 2 with a new love triangle — well, it’s more of a square or a rhombus, really — a new roommate, and new discoveries about her family heritage. 

After all, the reason she wanted to follow in her late mother’s footsteps and attend KISS was to learn about her mother and her Korean family. And what are long-kept family secrets worth without a few reunions? Read on to find out more about the biggest revelations from XO, Kitty Season 2.

Noah Centineo Returns as Peter Kavinsky in XO, Kitty Season 2

Was that a Noah Centineo cameo in XO, Kitty Season 2?

While the on-screen reunion between Kitty and her pseudo-older brother Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) happens more than halfway through the season, the real-life reunion between Cathcart and Centineo actually took place on the very first day of filming Season 2.

“It was so, so fun,” Cathcart tells Tudum. Peter is the longtime boyfriend of Kitty’s middle sister, Lara Jean, so he’s been a big brother figure to Kitty since she was barely in middle school. And much like Peter to Kitty, Centineo has been a mentor of sorts to Cathcart in her own career. “It means so much to have his support. He’s just so encouraging and such an amazing role model and someone to look up to.”

Centineo happened to be in South Korea filming scenes for Season 2 of his Netflix action series The Recruit, so the timing worked out fortuitously. But, says Cathcart, “our scenes together were the very first day of shooting the entire season, so I had not been on a set in two years. I was so nervous! I was just getting back into it and that full day was with Noah — which made it more overwhelming, but also made it the best ever because I had someone to be with the whole day who I look up to so much.”

For his part, Centineo also had a blast. “Working with Anna again was amazing,” Centineo tells Tudum. “She’s so wonderfully talented, and her work ethic shows in every scene. Stepping back into the To All the Boys universe was a true joy, and I hope our incredible audience enjoys seeing Peter again as much as I did.”

Speaking of reunions, how does Janel Parrish come back to XO, Kitty?

Margot Song Covey (Parrish), the eldest of the three Covey sisters, shows up in the Season 2 finale alongside the girls’ halemoni (grandmother) — played by creator Jenny Han’s mother, by the way — in an unexpected Song family reunion.

Cathcart refers to Parrish as a “lifelong big sister,” so Parrish’s time on set in Korea was similar to Centineo’s. “I’m truly so grateful that I’ve gotten to work with her,” Cathcart says. “It was so fun getting to be back — be back as friends, and also to be back on-screen as sisters. It’s been so many years! I’m so glad she got to come to Korea and hang out. It was amazing.”

Who is Simon?

Kitty’s mission in Season 1 was to learn more about her mother’s own experience in Seoul as a teenager, but her mission in Season 2 was to learn more about the mysterious Simon — a man her mother corresponded with during her own time at KISS. “When you hear about Simon, of course the assumption is that’s a boyfriend, right? Kitty assumes that, probably the audience does,” explains showrunner Jessica O’Toole. But it turns out that Simon is actually her mother’s cousin — and the full story is much more complicated than Kitty could have imagined.

When Kitty’s halemoni left South Korea and moved to the U.S., she left her own sister behind — and didn’t speak to or of her again. Kitty, and her mother before her, didn’t even realize they had cousins still living in their family’s homeland. For that older generation, “it was easier to keep secrets and it was harder to repair relationships,” says O’Toole. “Someone could move away and you wouldn’t hear from them, be able to find them.”

Before Kitty’s mom died, she was working with her cousin Simon to reunite their mothers — something Kitty wanted to finish on her mother’s behalf, and enlisted her own big sister to do so. “We know that Kitty loves romantic love — she always has, since the movies,” Cathcart says. “But there are so many types of love, including family love, and that is just as important and just as valuable to chase after and worth exploring. This season we see more of the vulnerability in that kind of love, and that also involves being brave and being courageous and putting yourself out there and getting hurt and taking the risk anyway. All of those things that I think we often attribute to romantic love also apply to family love.”

Speaking of romantic love, why didn’t Kitty and Min Ho kiss in the XO, Kitty Season 2 finale?

O’Toole considers the feeling of longing a staple in every teen show. There’s no exception when it comes to the epic slow burn between Kitty and her enemy-turned-friend-turned-maybe lover (?!) Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee). So, while Kitty spends the season exploring her own feelings of longing for Min Ho, “longing is something that the audience also needs to do,” teases O’Toole. 

That’s why, when Kitty tells Min Ho to “Wait!” before he leaves with his family for the summer, you’re desperately waiting for the pair to release their simmering tension with a kiss. After all, they did just save each other’s families. She helped him reconnect with his Simon Cowell-esque dad Young Moon (Philippe Lee) as he taught an arts course at KISS that culminated in a massive talent showcase; and Min Ho did the same by flying Margot and her halemoni to Korea on his private jet when their flight got canceled last minute. Can you say romantic? So, naturally, you’re feeling your own pangs of longing when they don’t seal it all with a kiss. But even without an “official” kiss in XO, Kitty Season 2, there are so many preludes to one that it’s simply building the anticipation.

At the Cherry Blossom Ball, when Kitty is starting to admit to herself that she’s jealous of Min Ho’s girlfriend Stella (Audrey Huynh), in walks Min Ho, dapper as ever, as Chappell Roan’s “Picture You” starts to play. With cherry blossoms exploding on the screen behind her crush, you can’t help but swoon along with Kitty (and, as O’Toole attests, everyone who edited the scene in post-production). “Those [moments] are meant to take the sting out of there not being a kiss yet,” O’Toole says. Not to mention the fact that Min Ho asks Kitty to dance, remembering how she’d sing that song in the shower off-key when they were roommates last semester. Who wouldn’t fall for a guy who remembers all those details about you? Even Peter notices that when he comes to visit. “He remembers every single word you ever said, but he still pretends to be annoyed when you talk too much. Classic,” he ribs.

So how did Kitty and Min Ho go from enemies in Season 1 to a slow burn romance in XO, Kitty Season 2?

We can’t forget that the season starts with Kitty outright rejecting Min Ho’s impulsive love confession on their flight to LA. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a guy who doesn’t really put himself out there. But, as he reminds her, Kitty can’t outright deny that she smiled when he told her. So not all hope is lost, but “we’re not ready for this quite yet,” says O’Toole.

Kitty and Min Ho shed their enemies status last season, but Season 2 was really when they started to embody the friends-to-lovers trope. Min Ho starts dating Stella, at Kitty’s behest, which takes the pressure off their own romantic intrigue a bit and allows them to genuinely become friends. “They’re having all these moments of intimacy, but they’re not romantic,” says O’Toole. “But they are.”

Take, for example, a pivotal scene in Episode 4. Stella (secretly) sabotages Min Ho’s ski cabin slumber party when she brings Kitty’s (goodbye) love letter she’d written about Yuri (Gia Kim) months prior. Yuri and Juliana (Regan Aliyah) break up after Juliana learns Kitty and Yuri kissed, and Kitty’s new sort-of girlfriend Praveena (Sasha Bhasin) calls their relationship off before it even really starts. Basically, Kitty is completely down in the dumps sitting in the hot tub when Min Ho, designer jacket and all, decides to get in to comfort his friend. 

“That is an opportunity for Kitty to see that Min Ho is a really true friend and is someone who wants to show up for Kitty regardless of his feelings, regardless of his pride that she turned him down,” says Cathcart. 

Later when Kitty discovers Stella isn’t who she says she is — her real name is Esther, and she came to KISS to destroy Min Ho’s dad after he embarrassed her in a singing competition years prior — it’s just in her nature to try to protect him and make sure that he’s alright. And, yes, there’s perhaps a bit of jealousy, too, which she only admits to herself later on. “It really eats [at] her, which is a very relatable thing so many people have experienced, seeing [that person] with someone else really shows you your true feelings,” says Cathcart. 

So is Yuri out of the picture for Kitty at the end of XO, Kitty Season 2? 

Sharing a suite with Yuri and Juliana is not exactly a dream for Kitty, who’s still harboring major feelings for Yuri at the start of the season. Juliana quickly picks up on how close the two became last semester, and her gut instincts aren’t exactly off when Yuri and Kitty steal a kiss. But Yuri quickly deems it a mistake since she’s in love with Juliana, crushing Kitty. “I know so many people are rooting for them, and I love to see that,” says Cathcart. “I do think that storyline, at least for now, she’s kind of explored that.” But the significance of what the budding of their relationship meant for Kitty changed her whole life and what she knew about her sexuality. “It’s not just about a crush — that has a lot more weight.”

Who wins the singing competition at the end of XO, Kitty Season 2?

Both Eunice (Han Bi Ryu) and Dae (Minyeong Choi) have the voices of angels, but it’s Eunice who wins the prize of opening for Min Ho’s K-pop star brother on his worldwide tour this summer. The songbirds had started dating earlier in the semester, but it fell apart after Dae underestimated her. Eunice winning the big competition instead of Dae was always the intention for O’Toole, “because it’s about his friends being there for him,” she says. “She deserves to win, and he knows that.” It’s a testament to their professionalism that they both put on stellar sets, though, since Stella tries to sabotage their performances in order to win herself. And, of course, it’s Kitty’s idea that Kitty, Q (Anthony Keyvan), his boyfriend Jin (Joshua Lee), Juliana, and Yuri fill in as Dae’s backup dancers. The cast rehearsed for weeks while they were filming other episodes. “We were like, ‘We are actually becoming a K-pop group! What is happening?’ ” says Cathcart.

Is Kitty done with her time in Korea or does she want to come back for another semester (and potentially Season 3)?

Um, how could Kitty not want to return? “Yeah, she wants to come back,” says O’Toole. “And now that she knows she has a cousin, now that she’s got this great aunt, there you go. She’s got family there.” Plus, Principal Lee (Michael K. Lee) renewed Kitty’s scholarship, so the world is her oyster. 

But things aren’t looking up for everyone at KISS when the season ends. Yuri learns that Juliana has officially moved on with Praveena, despite Juliana hearting her latest Instagram story. What’s worse: Yuri’s family assets have been frozen after a development in a class action lawsuit that Dae’s dad is a part of. Meaning? She’s broke. At least she’s got her newly discovered brother Alex (Peter Thurnwald) to help her through it all.