To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before fans got an unexpected update on the original star of Jenny Han’s universe in the newest season of XO, Kitty.
After three seasons of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before spinoff series, Lana Condor finally makes a surprise appearance in XO, Kitty Season 3 to offer some much-needed support to her little sister – and maybe, get some in return.
** Major XO, Kitty Season 3 spoilers ahead! **
Season 3 shows Kitty and Lara Jean finally reuniting for what turns out to be a valuable lesson in empowerment, illustrating the sisters’ mutual respect and cementing XO, Kitty as one of Han’s more feminist works. But it also serves as an informal epilogue to Condor’s hit franchise as fans get a glimpse of what happens after the happily ever after.
Condor’s highly anticipated appearance offered some much-needed closure on Lara Jean’s story. Episode 2 picks up at the end of the sisters’ summer together in New York City, after Kitty spent her break staying in Lara Jean’s expectedly adorable apartment. The young romantic has built a cozy life for herself working in publishing in the Big Apple while her little sister is forging her own path at KISS. But things are not going as smoothly as Covinsky shippers might have hoped.
Lara Jean reveals that she and Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) are having some trouble navigating their long distance relationship. To All the Boys: Always and Forever ended with the lovebirds recommitting to each other despite ending up in universities directly across the country from each other, as Lara Jean follows her desire to attend New York University on the east coast after she didn’t get accepted into Stanford University with Peter, like they had hoped.
Peter and Lara Jean always managed to find their happily ever after, much to the delight to fans everywhere. But it looks like the distance ultimately drove them apart.
“Our lives are just not compatible right now,” Lara Jean tells Kitty in Episode 2. “He’s working in California and all the big publishing houses are here in New York.”
To make matters worse, she doesn’t seem particularly hopeful as Kitty tries to convince her they can make it work. But Lara Jean has bigger things to worry about besides her high school sweetheart: Her little sister is about to travel halfway across the country for what could be one of the most defining years of her life. Plus, Lara Jean, our little romantic, is finally working on her first manuscript.
Hearing that Peter and Lara Jean broke up is probably the last thing fans wanted to hear (as seen in early reactions to Season 3). But it’s moments like these that reassert the franchise’s innate romance. Moments of conflict are what make a romantic plotlines even richer, allowing fans to see their faves reach across the chasm of miscommunication for one another. Relationships are not meant to be easy. And one thing fans know about Lara Jean and Peter – and now, Min Ho and Kitty – is that they are willing to put the work in.
LJ imparts some true words of wisdom for Kitty to end her first appearance on the show. Kitty has always had a very distinct personality compared to her sisters, but it feels like Lara Jean is talking to a younger version of herself as she tells her, “Getting to watch you experience all these new things and figure out where you want to apply to college, that is exactly what my heart needed. And you know, whatever happens with Min Ho, I think it’s important you take the time to discover who you are. Just make senior year count.”
This meaningful moment alone would have sufficed. But Condor returns again in Episode 5 to pick up the pieces after Min Ho and Kitty break up. It’s clear that Lara Jean is learning more about herself as she watches her gutsy little sister grow up and endure her first major relationship, just as we watched LJ do in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. She pushes Kitty to apply early decision to NYU, while also taking a leap of faith herself: She reveals she’s been using all of her free time as a newly single lady to focus on her manuscript, which she finally sent to her editor/boss for consideration.
She clearly understands Kitty’s apprehension of leaving Min Ho behind in Seoul. Lara Jean and Peter struggled with the same issue, and it only became more difficult to manage as they got older and took jobs clear across the country from each other. But LJ reveals she at least plans to talk things through with Peter, while still making it clear that she is not willing to sacrifice herself or her dreams for a boy, even if she loves him – which could be a lesson that Kitty needs to hear, too.
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen between you and Min Ho. I don’t know what’s gonna happen between me and Peter, but we can’t just stop living our lives,” she tells her little sister. “We have to follow our hearts and trust that it’ll lead us to our next great adventure.”
Kitty has already earned the title of “chaos queen,” so it’s an interesting move to have Lara Jean swoop in with her own drama. We may all worship at the altar of Covinsky. But the heartbreak will allow her to see what really matters in life and impart that same wisdom onto her little sister as she finally enters adulthood. While Kitty pushed Lara Jean to get her head out of the romance novels and pursue some romance of her own, Lara Jean pushes Kitty the opposite way, back towards her goals, while still reminding her that she is “so proud” of the young woman Kitty has already become.
Lara Jean reveals in the end that Peter is coming to New York to talk things out after all. While they may still be “5,000 miles apart, literally and emotionally,” as LJ put it, there’s still hope yet for the Covinsky ship. Plus, maybe this means both Centineo and Condor will get to return for Season 4 if XO, Kitty gets renewed.
Later, Lara Jean later tells her, “I really do not know what the future holds for Peter and I, but I can’t not bet on myself.” It’s moments like these that set the show apart from the movies and Han’s hit series The Summer I Turned Pretty, which garnered some criticism for sidelining Belly’s (Lola Tung) interiority for the sake of romance.
With Lara Jean’s urging, Kitty sets off on a path of her own without abandoning the heart on her sleeve. If Lara Jean can do it, so can she.
XO, Kitty and all three movies of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series are streaming now on Netflix.
