XO, Kitty

The series veers away from the traditional, more predictable rom-com set-up, with a storybook ending and one perfect love interest, heading toward a more chaotic story of mismatched couples instead. In doing so, XO, Kitty loses a bit of the rom-com appeal, but the show makes up for it with exciting new twists.

Cathcart is a more mature Kitty than we’ve seen previously. Still, she manages to weave in the spunky naiveté and inquisitiveness that was so endearing about the character in her pre-teen years. Kitty’s determination and earnestness ground the series when things feel more than a bit chaotic.

The result is a romance that lacks some of the intense chemistry of its predecessors, but makes up for it with a fresh playfulness befitting its sunny heroine.

Thanks to its brisk pace, likable characters, and consistently propulsive plot (another drama really is always just around the corner), I don’t think anyone would mind coming back for another semester.

There are a lot of balls in the air, and when they all land in the finale, you realize XO, Kitty is primed for a better, richer, more interesting season two. With all the wheel spinning the show does in its first half, we just wish it hadn’t taken so long to get there.

The series’ Scooby-Doo mysteries are never allowed to simmer; characters are prone to stating solutions outright the moment they encounter the slightest clue. None of this, however, is really a dealbreaker. As far as children’s programming goes, XO, Kitty’s cutesy love triangles and cliff-hanging endings might be enough to sustain a full-grown adult, at least through folding a pile of laundry.