Yuri and her mother, Principal Jina, in XO, Kitty tend to disagree with each other a lot. Jina is a conservative woman who places the family image above all else, whereas Yuri just wants to live a life on her own terms. Yet they share a similarity: they do not mind hurting others with their actions. Both mother and daughter had that pinch of selfishness in them. Let us start with Jina herself. What we know about her past is that she came from an affluent family and was a student of KISS in the 1990s. Her roommate and, as we suspect, her best friend during that time was Eve Song, who was a Korean American and was Kitty’s mother. Jina and Lee started dating, and we understand that it was a very romantic relationship.
Professor Lee gives us the impression that he must have been quite the rebel in his younger days. He wanted to become a rock star and had left to study music abroad, two of the hardest things to do in East Asia in the 1990s. Jina and Lee sound like such a typical couple; one is a rich heiress, and the other is a rock-punk teenager. We can visualize it so clearly. However, despite the cliche, it felt like their attraction had survived the test of time in XO, Kitty. They must have been serious about each other if Jina was willing to go through her pregnancy alone just to not be an obstacle to Lee’s dreams.
As for Lee, he has always been a responsible man, and we don’t doubt he would have stepped up for Jina and their son if he had known. But they are not the ones we are talking about. We are talking about Eve Song. Right from the beginning, Jina pretends as if she doesn’t really remember Eve, but their friendship means a lot to her. When Jina sees the necklace on Yuri, she thinks it is hers, which means she has still kept it safely. From Jina’s demeanor, it looked like Eve, and she had had a rather ugly breakup. Jina used Eve’s name in the hospital to cover up her identity and keep it secret that she was the one who had given birth. It was never specified whether this name was used with permission or not. Jina referred to Eve as her American friend, so we are guessing that Eve had come down from America to attend KISS. But that must mean that she had some connection to Korea. Probably her grandparents were settled there, or maybe one of Eve’s parents was in Korea. This means that it couldn’t have been easy for Eve to take the fall for Jina.
Jina wanted to avoid giving her name because it would “bring shame” to her parents. But what about Eve’s parents, grandparents, or whoever was there in Korea for her? We don’t suppose there were a lot of complications. Maybe Eve’s guardians knew the truth and trusted her, but the breach of trust must have been it for the friends. Because if it was all done with permission, why would Jina avoid Eve’s name the way she did? But if that was not the cause of their fallout, then there must be something else, which we will be introduced to in Season 2. One last possibility is that there was never any fallout. Jina was just scared of her past catching up with her. That makes sense since she has never really lived an authentic life. She has always lived for the family name. She gave away her child for that; she used Eve’s name for that, and the husband she married was keeping in mind what her family would approve of. She did not even spare her daughter from this and sent Juliana to another country entirely. Love always took a backseat to the so-called reputation of the family, and at the end of the day, it left no one happy. Lucky for Jina, by the time she realizes this, it is not too late, and she can still work for a life where she does what she wants. The same cannot be said for Kitty, who is constantly hurt by Yuri’s actions in XO, Kitty.
Why Was Yuri A Bad Match For Kitty?
It did not make an iota of sense that Kitty came to have feelings for Yuri after everything that was done to her in XO, Kitty. Yuri had a very strong sense of what she liked to wear, which happened to fall within the hyper-feminine lesbian core aesthetic. Unfortunately, she did not know when to stop being wrong. She loved Juliana, and because of that, she did not care who she hurt as long as she got to be with her. She let Kitty believe that her boyfriend had cheated on her, despite knowing that she had traveled cross-country for him. She also stole Kitty’s necklace to keep Dae as a friend, which made no sense at all. When she discovered that Kitty was living in the boys’ dorm, she acted as if she were the one who was more wronged and openly flaunted the stolen necklace.
When Yuri finally let go of Dae, it wasn’t out of the goodness of her heart but because she wanted to get back at her mother. Additionally, she judged her mother for not telling her about Alex because she felt wronged, as she always wanted a sibling, which was so frivolous in the face of her mother’s sacrifice. In XO, Kitty, Yuri was an inherently selfish character who was impossible to like. Kitty falling in love with her was random and nonsensical, but without getting there, we will say that both Yuri and Jina are hypocrites and extremely selfish, and they will do anything to get what they want, including hurting innocent people ruthlessly. We hope they are able to redeem themselves in Season 2, though we don’t know how. Jina seems to have done that by calling Juliana back and finally talking to Kitty about Eve. As for Yuri, she is advocating for Kitty to stay back at KISS, but either way, we still don’t like characters who are evil throughout, but we are supposed to forgive them for a single good act. We truly hope they are better in the upcoming season.
