XO Kitty review: American series trying to be Korean, yet remains boring

Another week, another teenage drama. Netflix seems to be obsessed with this genre. But, are people done with these "cliche, high-school romances"?

This week, not so much-awaited 'XO, Kitty' was released on Netflix. Created by Jenny Han, the 10-episodeseries is a spin-off of the famous film series 'PS: To All The Boys I've Loved Before'.

The Plot

The story revolves around Kathrein Song Covey, aka Kitty, played by Anna Cathcart, who is eager to shift to South Korea to meet her long-distanceboyfriend, Dae, played by Choi Min-young.

After convincing her father and stepmother, Kitty moves to South Korea to attend K.I.S.S. (Korean Independent School of Seoul). It is the same school her late mother once went to and where Dae also goes.

Kitty is excited to explore her new relationship and to also learn more about her mother.Enthusiasticand very much in love, Kitty reaches Seoul to surprise Daebut gets her heart broken after finding out that Dae is cheating on her with Yuri, played by Gia Kim.

Meanwhile, Theschool confuses the latter part of her name, Song Covery,to be a guy's name, putting her up with three boys in a dormitory-- Dae and his friends Q and Min Ho.

Yuri comes from a rich family and her mother is the headof the school. Kitty finds out that her mother and Yuri's mother were best friends during their school days in 1993. However, when Kitty introduces herself, Yuri's mother refuses to recognise Kitty's mother.

The story moves forward, and Kitty, the matchmaker,tries to help her schoolmates by matching them up withtheir soulmates. Later in the show, it is revealed that Yuri is in a fake relationship with Dae, something Kitty had long suspected. Yuri had been keeping Dae by her side due to pressure from her parents, who wanted to portray a nice image of themselves in front of the media, considering Dae's father is the driver of Yuri's dad.Her primary reason though is tohide thefact that she is in love with a girl, something she doesn't openly speak about until much later in the show.

During all this, Dae still has feelings for Kitty and tries to explain the situation. While Kitty is angry about Dae cheating on her, she has made peace with the situation and has movedon with her life.

Yuri later finds out that her mother had sent Juliana away since she suspected they were together. An angry Yuri then refuses to play along with her parents'wishes and breaks up with Dae. She also comes out to her mother as gay.

While everything is going 'dreamy' in K.I.S.S, Kitty is not happy being back with the Dae. The reason? She is falling for Yuri. Yes, you read that right.

Is Kitty gay? Not sure, neither is she.

Should you watch it?

The series is very complex. A lot is happening in everyone's lives. But that's what teenage is all about. The beautiful thing about this series is, they have kept the characters relatable irrespective of your age. Whether it’s the character of Yuri's mother or Kitty's friends, every character has unique behaviour.

While there are other series like Never Have I Ever, which is also based on finding love and finding yourself, this series doesn’t add anything new. Having said that, what is unique about this show is the South Korean connection. If you are a K-series fan, then this show should not be missed. From showing Korean culture to Korean dialogues, the show has brought America to Seoul.