Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) went to K.I.S.S. with two things in mind: to follow her heart, and to learn more about her mom’s past as a student there. Since then, XO, Kitty has focused on both of these storylines. Season 2 expands on each of them, with Kitty’s love life becoming even more complicated and her investigation into her mom’s past ultimately leading to the reveal of some major family secrets.

There is one major change in Season 2, though, and that is the addition of XO, Kitty‘s new villain, Stella (Audrey Huynh). Stella is first introduced as Kitty’s new roommate, a sheltered girl from Ohio who’s excited to branch out at K.I.S.S. By the end of the Season 2 premiere, though, it is revealed that Stella is not who she says she is. Her real name is Esther, and she’s there to “get what’s hers.” Stella slowly wreaks a great deal of havoc throughout the season, and her motives eventually get revealed at the end. Ultimately, Stella is a fantastic villain, and she is exactly what XO, Kitty needed.

Stella’s Sabotage Ramps Up the Stakes in ‘XO, Kitty’ Season 2

In Season 1 of XO, Kitty, the highest stakes were all emotional. The focus was primarily on Kitty’s complicated romantic connections with Dae (Choi Min-young), Yuri (Gia Kim), and Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee). There was also the issue of Kitty’s search into her mom’s past and the risk of her status at K.I.S.S. after it was revealed that she had been secretly living in the boys’ dorm. This season brings in real-life stakes, though, as Stella secretly works to take down Min Ho’s father, Moon (Philippe Lee).

While Season 2 of XO, Kitty makes it clear throughout that Stella is not who she claims to be, her intentions and her motives are not revealed until later on. This mystery hangs over the season, hitting a turning point when the friend group takes a ski trip to Min Ho’s father’s cabin for Seollal. While on the trip, Stella brings Kitty’s love letter to Yuri and leaks it to the rest of the group. Stella also shows an interest in staying back while everyone else goes skiing. Then Jin (Joshua Hyunho Lee) reveals that she had been snooping around in the drawers of Moon’s office, clearly looking for something.

After Kitty realizes that Stella leaked her letter, Stella’s motives and ultimate plan are still kept secret. Shortly after, an Instagram account called MoonLeaks pops up. The anonymous account exposes Moon for previously treating his employees and reality show contestants badly — and for wearing hair plugs. Kitty pieces the details together, although it takes Min Ho longer to accept the truth: Stella is the one behind MoonLeaks, and she’s been using Min Ho this whole time just to get to Moon.

Stella’s Backstory Makes Her a Compelling Villain in ‘XO, Kitty’ Season 2

Image via Netflix

It would have been easy for XO, Kitty to center Kitty in Stella’s villain arc, and to pit them against each other over Min Ho. Instead, though, the show does something far more interesting. Kitty realizes that, like Min Ho, she’s just a pawn in Stella’s revenge scheme. Stella leaked Kitty’s letter to distract the rest of the group so that she could look through Moon’s documents. It turns out that Stella only went to K.I.S.S. in the first place to carry out a complex revenge scheme against Moon.

Early in the season, Moon tells Min Ho that the key to a successful reality show is having intentionally bad contestants on the show to humiliate them for better content. This is just one of many ways that Moon embarrasses and hurts the feelings of the contestants on his shows. Several years before, Stella — known back then as Esther — competed on one of Moon’s shows. While he liked her voice, he didn’t allow her to get any further in the competition than that because he said that she didn’t have the look. Esther fell apart right then, which quickly turned her into a humiliating meme.

Stella’s methods of carrying out revenge are certainly misguided and harmful to Kitty and Min Ho, but her motivation comes from a real place. While trying to follow her dream, she was publicly shamed for her appearance, and she had to reinvent herself in the wake of it. Stella is a complex villain who is driven by real hurt and shame after the way that Moon treated her on live television, and there is nothing that she isn’t willing to risk to get revenge.

A Shared Villain Unites the Other Characters in ‘XO, Kitty’ Season 2

Image via Netflix

After Kitty’s letter is exposed in the fourth episode of Season 2, “Kiss and Tell,” her friend group explodes into chaos. Juliana (Regan Aliyah) is angry with Yuri and Kitty, Yuri is avoiding Kitty, and then Dae temporarily ends his friendship with Min Ho after learning about his love confession to Kitty. Having a clearly-defined villain brings the rest of the characters back together, due to their mutual dislike of Stella. For example, within just two episodes, Juliana moves past her anger towards Kitty, and they have a friendly conversation about their shared issues with Stella as Peter (Noah Centineo) looks on, confused.

Stella’s extreme methods, like recording Min Ho’s father and sabotaging all of her competitors in the talent contest, make the rest of the drama look much smaller in comparison. As such, Min Ho and Dae quickly makeup, and Kitty, Yuri, and Juliana are able to move past the worst of their love triangle drama. Eunice and Dae forgive each other very soon after their fight. Juliana, Q (Anthony Keyvan), Kitty, Yuri, and Jin all step in as Dae’s backup dancers for the contest. In the wake of Stella’s revenge plot, the friends all unite together to work towards a shared goal, resulting in a heartfelt Season 2 finale.

XO, Kitty Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.