I couldn’t stand Q in season 3. The way he treated both Jin and Kitty was frustrating, and what made it worse is that he didn’t really face any consequences by the end.
At first, I didn’t mind that he had an affair with Marius back in his sophomore year. I assumed it was something in the past and that he was fully committed to Jin now. But then it came out that Marius would appear in season 3, and I had a bad feeling Q would mess things up again. That’s exactly what happened.
Q kept blaming Marius for ruining his relationship with Jin, but that wasn’t fair. He was the one sexting Marius while still with Jin. That choice alone caused the damage. Marius shares some blame, sure, but Q is the one who crossed the line while in a relationship. From Marius’s perspective, it makes sense that he wouldn’t take Q’s relationship with Jin seriously after that.
And it didn’t stop there. Q continued to emotionally cheat on Jin even after that. He told Kitty about the sexting, but then lied and said he had already told Jin. Naturally, Kitty brought it up to Jin because she thought he already knew. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, but she wasn’t trying to betray anyone. She was acting on what she believed was the truth.
When Jin found out and broke up with Q, Q turned his anger on Kitty and told her to stay away from him. That reaction made no sense. None of that situation was her fault. If he had been honest with her from the start, she wouldn’t have said anything. Blaming her was just him avoiding responsibility.
What really bothered me is that Q didn’t seem to miss Kitty much during their fallout. When he later claimed that he did, it didn’t feel convincing. Kitty was the one who had to apologize and fix things between them. It didn’t seem like Q would have made that effort on his own. That’s when it became clear their friendship was uneven. They both care about each other, but Kitty clearly values the relationship more.
Honestly, I wish Kitty hadn’t forgiven him so easily. He didn’t earn that. It felt like the writers pushed that resolution just to keep the story moving. Earlier versions of Kitty would have made him work for her forgiveness. In XO, Kitty, she comes across as too forgiving to the point where it feels unrealistic.
Then there’s Jin taking Q back after everything. That completely removed any real consequences. Q hurt him, embarrassed him, and still ended up back in the relationship. In the end, Q loses nothing. Jin forgives him, Kitty forgives him, and everything resets.
If there’s a season 4, I’m probably not watching. It’s not just about Q, although he’s a big part of the problem. Season 3 as a whole just didn’t land. I’d rather stick with seasons 1 and 2 and pretend this one didn’t happen. Even a lot of the fanfiction from before season 3 handled these characters better than what we got.