Like XO, Kitty has a messy love triangle in this hit movie

The second season of XO, Kitty has officially dropped, and it is a whole lot of chaotic fun. This installment of the teen romantic comedy series shows Kitty (Anna Cathcart) doing more investigation into her family history, dealing with an unlikely villain, and becoming even more torn between her two main love interests. Kitty starts the season pining after Yuri (Gia Kim), who is still in a serious relationship with Juliana (Regan Aliyah). Meanwhile, in spite of rejecting Min Ho’s (Sang Heon Lee) love confession, Kitty finds herself seeing him in a new light this season.

There is a lot about XO, Kitty that makes it fantastic: its unique setting at K.I.S.S., its many callbacks to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and its enthusiastic leading lady. The show is also just very funny, overly dramatic, and full of romances worth rooting for. The teen comedy series is really coming into its own, and its latest season left off on the perfect note to continue with a likely Season 3. For those looking for another drama-filled teen comedy series to watch in the meantime, the 2011 MTV series, Awkward, is the perfect choice.

‘Awkward’ Is a Classic Teen Comedy Series

Tamara, Jenna, and Ming walking through the school hallway together in the pilot episode of Awkward

Image via MTV

Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) is an unpopular teenage girl going into her sophomore year of high school. She has two friends and a secret blog and is generally invisible. While at summer camp, she hooks up with the guy of her dreams, Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff). The only problem is that Matty doesn’t want to be seen with Jenna in public, due to their vastly different social statuses. As if this isn’t bad enough, things take an even worse turn when Jenna receives a cruel anonymous letter criticizing her for all of her faults and telling her to change nearly everything about her life.

Upset about the letter, Jenna makes a blog post about it, and then she tries to take some Aspirin and go to bed. In a freak accident, Jenna takes a dangerous spill in her bathroom at home that could have killed her in a number of ways, and her accident gets misconstrued as intentional. Suddenly, invisibility is no longer an option for Jenna, and everyone is talking about her and speculating about her reasons for doing what she did. Since people are gossiping about her anyway, Jenna slowly starts to take charge of her life and intentionally puts herself out there, while also navigating a messy love life and mandatory daily sessions with the school counselor (Desi Lydic), as well as trying to figure out who wrote her the letter. This mystery hangs over the entire first season and it has a surprising and explosive resolution.

Palos Hills High School is the perfect setting for a teen-centered comedy series. Everything about this bizarre school is exaggerated to play on typical high school tropes. The school is run by a mean girl named Sadie Saxton (Molly Tarlov) who regularly gives her peers and teachers the cruelest insults, followed by a phony “You’re welcome.” There are a number of intense and exclusive cliques, as well as many bizarre and over-the-top school traditions, including a very insensitive annual skit that the students perform to learn about the importance of driving safety. Everything about the series is incredibly intentional and self-aware in its comedy, as the cynical Jenna frequently gets caught right in the middle of everything she hates about high school.

Jennifer Jason Leigh in a high school classroom in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

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Like ‘XO, Kitty,’ ‘Awkward’ Has a Messy Central Love Triangle

Jake Rosati, Jenna Hamilton, and Matty McKibben sitting at a pep rally together in Awkward

Matty McKibben standing at Jenna Hamilton's door in Awkward

Jake Rosati and Jenna Hamilton talking to each other outside a school building in Awkward

Matty McKibben and Jenna Hamilton talking to each other in the school parking lot in Awkward Season 2

Jake Rosati and Jenna Hamilton sitting on the quad together in Awkward Season 1 Episode 11

One of the best parts of XO, Kitty is its central love triangle between Kitty, Yuri, and Min Ho — which was previously a love square including Dae (Choi Min-young) in Season 1. Like XO, Kitty, Awkward also has a compelling and messy central love triangle. Jenna starts the show hung up on Matty but feeling torn, as he still wants to keep their relationship a secret and is embarrassed to be seen with her. Meanwhile, after Jenna puts herself out there at a school event, she develops an unexpected friendship with Matty’s best friend, Jake Rosati (Brett Davern), that gradually blossoms into something more.

Similar to XO, Kitty, Awkward‘s love triangle is spread out over multiple seasons, as Jenna is stuck between the two most popular guys in school. Jake is not afraid to be seen with Jenna in public, but he has a girlfriend, Lissa (Greer Grammer). Matty and Jenna have a strong connection, but he doesn’t want anyone to know about their relationship. The drama is elevated throughout the show’s seasons in a number of unexpected ways, like the fact that Jake doesn’t know about Jenna and Matty’s relationship and history together at all. There are moments of third-wheeling, miscommunication, explosive reveals, and even an elaborate scene where the whole school gets involved in trying to tell Jenna who to choose, between Matty and Jake.

Awkward is a very clever show that intentionally plays off of classic high school stereotypes and dynamics in order to maximize the drama. Like XO, Kitty, there is a hilarious extended friend group, a great deal of romantic chaos, and a heroine who unintentionally keeps finding herself at the center of all the drama. As fans wait for a Season 3 announcement and a continuation of Kitty’s romantic saga, Awkward is the perfect choice for the next watch.

Awkward is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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