I think about you all the time

Minho’s prominence in Season 2, particularly the latter half, was a decision made late in production due to pressure from fans, and the series suffered greatly as a result. Here’s why I think this:

1. Changing the role/purpose of new characters

Prior to production of Season 2, these descriptions were included in the casting call for new characters:

From these, it’s easy to figure out that “Sophie” was changed to Stella, and “Mr. Choi” was changed to be Mr. Moon. This second choice was likely to integrate Minho into the main plotline, since his only real connection to Kitty and her story in season 1 was by being her boyfriend’s roommate.

Stella’s name change may seem like a minor adjustment, but it struck me as odd when first announced. It would be extremely uncommon for a Korean American to be named Stella. When choosing American names for their children, Koreans traditionally pick lesser-known biblical names such as Esther, Eunice, Priscilla, or Sophia — which is where we get “Sophie.”

I suspect Stella/Sophie’s religious background had a much more prominent role in the original outline for Season 2. Even among Protestant churches around the world, Korean churches are noted as aggressively authoritative and holding strict, literal interpretations of religious texts. I was looking forward to seeing how XO, Kitty would tackle this difficult subject. But strangely, religion hardly plays a role in the final version of Stella we see in the show. Sure, it makes her off-putting and a little suspect, but if this part of her past was removed from the story, would anything about her motivation really change? The casting call also mentions Stella’s church’s exchange program, but it’s never brought up in the show either. It’s odd for her religious background to be the central point of her character description when it’s barely present in the show.

Since “Sophie” is a very common name for Korean American Christians, I also doubt that the whole “hidden identity” plotline was part of her original story. This would also line up with changing Mr. Choi to be Minho’s father, since both of these changes are part of the same subplot. Stella’s one-dimensional villainization and the introduction of Minho’s father were most likely introduced later in order to integrate Minho into the main plot and orchestrate a romance between him and Kitty.

Minho aside, changing the religious Sophie to the cartoonishly evil Stella is a very poor choice on multiple levels, which I go over in another post about the hurtful portrayal of ex-Christian Korean Americans. 

2. Elimination of historical storyline

Season 2 lacks the casual inclusion of Korean culture that Season 1 presents with ease. The show benefited from small moments such as the Chuseok celebrations and the fan-dancing performance because they help portray a Korea that exists beyond its pop-culture facade. 

There are several unaddressed plot threads and circumstances that suggest an important storyline about Korean cultural history was removed. For instance: Alex sadly announces the discontinuation of the time capsule program due to funds being redirected to the idol contest, but the students ignore him or appear bored. It’s only when Mr. Moon returns to the stage that they visibly cheer up. The message is clear: k-pop stardom entices the students, but they are sacrificing the opportunity to study the city’s cultural history. The message is further emphasized when Mr. Moon sets up the blinding stage for his competition within Gyeongbok Palace, essentially co-opting a precious national landmark for his selfish purposes. 

But this message never actually goes anywhere. After Kitty successfully steals her mother’s time capsule and opens it early, that program is never mentioned again by Alex or anyone else. In fact, hardly anyone even mentions the fact that the competition takes place at Gyeongbok Palace, despite the fact that this would be a very big deal for Mr. Moon to secure, not to mention a big deal for the producers of XO, Kitty! Visitors of Gyeongbok Palace are encouraged to dress in traditional Korean hanbok on the grounds to maintain its historical ambiance. Holding a noisy, flashy k-pop competition in the palace courtyard without a single character commenting on it feels off-putting.

Unresolved plotlines are the most obvious signs of last-minute shuffling around with the script. While XO, Kitty has always delighted in its twists and turns, the messiness at the latter half of season 2 felt more disorganized than its usual endearing chaos.

3. Minho’s monopolization of plotlines

Minho has been a fan favorite from the start despite not being central to Kitty’s story in Season 1. Dae is connected to Kitty by being her first love and part of the reason she came to KISS. Yuri, Alex, and Jina are connected to Kitty thanks to her mom’s past — the other reason she came to KISS. That isn’t to say he adds no value to the story — he’s certainly charmed the majority of viewers with his banter, even if he reminds me too much of the prissy Korean boys I attended school with to find likable. But Minho is only present in Kitty’s life by virtue of being her boyfriend’s roommate, and even if the two develop a friendship beyond that, he doesn’t play a role in the self-discovery she embarks on throughout Season 1. 

This changes rather abruptly, and without sufficient explanation, in Season 2. Suddenly he’s completely invested in Kitty’s journey to discover more about her family, even though he didn’t show interest in Season 1. What’s truly changed besides him wanting to win her heart? The explanations for his involvement are ridiculous. He joins the heist on the archives — because he’s tall enough to reach the shelf? He joins Kitty on the trip to meet Jiwon — because he can speak Korean? Don’t Dae, Yuri, and Praveena all speak Korean, and have shown interest in helping her with this before? Minho is often presented as the only choice, and the awkwardness of his constant inclusion feels as if the writers were insistent on giving him as much screen time as possible.

It was Yuri, having made promises to Kitty in both seasons to go on this journey, and being inherently connected to this discovery by virtue of Jina, who should have been present in these moments with Kitty. It was Praveena, who suggested the heist to the archives in the first place, who should have been hiding with her in the dark and tagged along on the adventures that followed this discovery. I’d go so far as to argue that scenes from sapphic characters, especially Yuri, were co-opted by Minho late in the game. The notorious dance scene, in which Chappell Roan’s Picture You is played over Kitty realizing she is in love with Minho, is the most obvious example. The production likely acquired the licensing for the famously lesbian song while planning for a romantic scene with Yuri, only to change their plans and struggle to find an appropriate scene to use it for. Enter Minho. 

Not even Kitty is safe from Minho’s monopolization of the writers’ attention. In Season 2, what did Kitty really discover about herself that didn’t directly involve Minho? In Season 1, Kitty discovered her sexuality, uncovered Alex’s identity, survived her first semester abroad — helped along the way by various characters, but often times alone. Her choices and agency have a real effect on the plot. But in Season 2, everything becomes about Minho: his relationship with his dad sets up the majority of the season’s premises, and he is somehow involved in every other character’s individual storyline. Many of Kitty’s problems are solved due to Minho’s wealth, resources, or character development. And in the season finale, he gets a satisfying conclusion to each of his arcs: the girl he likes, the relationship with his dad that he always wanted, and renewed security in the luxurious life he’s always basked in. 

It’s no mystery as to why the integrity of the story and the development of other characters were sacrificed for Minho’s sake. For the past year and a half, tens of thousands flocked to the show’s official social media accounts to demand this change. Such comments were unavoidable, and one doesn’t have to search long to find blatant hate speech about the queer characters or even queer people in general. When you choose to appease homophobic fans by erasing the queer relationships you have already committed to writing, you are teaching them that if their hate is loud enough, then they will succeed. If they demand that queer characters — that queer people — disappear, then disappear they will. 

Regardless of individual fans’ inclination towards Minho, the reality is that sapphic fictional characters have historically be sidelined, demonized, or removed, if they get to exist at all. XO, Kitty does not exist in a cultural vacuum, and what the writers have done with their queer storylines — or, more accurately, have not done — is undeniably homophobic. And the insistence of a Minho endgame has not only resulted in egregious queer misrepresentation, but a betrayal of creative integrity regarding the show’s initial vision and a decline in the story’s overall coherence.