Daddy

Daddy, the widowed father of Lara Jean Song Covey, Margot Song Covey, and Kitty Covey, is portrayed through acts of domestic care and the effort to remain emotionally available after the family’s loss. He keeps the household’s Korean New Year traditions, notices when Lara Jean is troubled, and admits that he is still learning how to be the parent she needs. His defining significance is not authority alone: he is a loving father whose care becomes most visible when he acknowledges both his daughters’ vulnerability and his own limits.

Family Life and Background

Daddy raises his three daughters after the death of Lara Jean’s Mother. New Year’s Day makes that absence visible in a recurring family ritual. After the relatives bow in order of age, Daddy takes his place on the couch to receive the bows and hand out money. The cushion beside him remains empty, as it has every New Year’s Day since his wife died. He smiles gamely as he gives each daughter ten dollars, but the sight of him sitting alone leaves Lara Jean with an ache and a resolve: she does not want him to be alone on that couch the following year.

The ceremony also shows Daddy maintaining a connection to Korean custom within the family. When Kitty objects to wearing a hanbok, he argues that the other cousins will be wearing them and that the clothes will make Grandma happy, then ends the discussion. His manner is practical and decisive, but the reason he gives is relational: the clothing matters because of the family gathering and an elder’s pleasure. The daughters still receive their New Year’s money whether or not the garments bring them extra, and the ritual continues as part of a crowded family celebration.

Care and Attentiveness

Daddy’s care often appears as close observation rather than interrogation. Before Margot Song Covey leaves for Scotland, he prepares a farewell dinner himself, making Korean short ribs, potatoes au gratin, and a lemon cake. He describes the cake as a little sunshine for a gray, cold stretch of weather. At dinner, he asks whether the galbi jjim tastes like Grandma’s. The meal joins the family’s Korean food traditions to his own effort to make Margot’s last evening at home feel special.

During that dinner, Daddy puts an arm around Lara Jean’s waist and pats her side. He does not ask what is wrong, but she understands that he recognizes there is something troubling her beyond her period. This small gesture captures a pattern in their relationship: he is attentive to changes in her, even when he does not yet know how to draw her into conversation. His instinct to notice is present; the more difficult question is how to invite disclosure without pushing too hard.

The Video and Father-Daughter Trust

When Lara Jean comes home after the hot-tub video has become a crisis, Daddy is waiting at the kitchen table and asks why she has not answered her phone. He tells her that he has not watched the video and will not watch it because it is private between her and Peter Kavinsky. At the same time, he says he wishes she had used better judgment and reminds her that actions can have long-lasting consequences. His response holds privacy and parental disapproval together: he does not treat the exposure as permission to inspect or shame her, but neither does he pretend the situation has no consequences.

The conversation turns to what Lara Jean has not told him. Daddy says it pains him that she did not come to him when school became difficult. He had known she was going through something, but had tried not to push too hard. He explains that he often thinks about what Lara Jean’s Mother would have done and admits that it is not easy for his daughter to have only a father to talk to. His voice breaks as he says that he is trying. Lara Jean embraces him and tells him she knows. The exchange does not erase the distance between them; instead, it gives that distance an honest name and allows them to meet within it.

Daddy follows the conversation with a concrete protective step. He has spoken to Principal Lochlan, who will announce that students who watch or distribute the video will be suspended. The response extends his private assurance into action at school: Lara Jean is not left to manage the circulation of the video alone. His decision also reflects the distinction he has drawn between her private relationship and other people’s handling of the recording.

Independence and Possible Romance

Daddy’s life is not presented as ending with his identity as a father. One evening he tells Lara Jean that he has plans with a friend, then leaves in a hurry wearing a neat button-down shirt instead of one of his worn sweaters. He has shaved, and Lara Jean suspects he may be on a date. She does not know who the friend is; she thinks it could be someone from the hospital and remembers that he is shy and does not have a wide social circle. The scene registers her hope that the outing is a good thing without establishing more than she knows.

In a later conversation, Trina Rothschild speaks warmly of the devotion Daddy shows his daughters. She describes them as precious to him and reflects that sisters can remain part of one another’s lives as parents grow older. Her words place Daddy’s fatherhood in a wider family perspective: his closeness to his daughters is visible to someone outside the household, while the girls’ bond with one another offers its own lasting support. Together, the tentative glimpse of his evening out and this conversation suggest the possibility of companionship alongside his continuing commitment to his children, without making his romantic future the center of his story.

Characterization and Significance

Daddy’s defining strength is a care that is practical, observant, and willing to acknowledge imperfection. He cooks, maintains a family ritual, notices Lara Jean’s unease, respects her privacy, and intervenes when the video threatens her at school. Yet he does not claim to know exactly what she needs: he admits that he held back, that he misses the guidance of Lara Jean’s Mother, and that he is trying to become someone his daughter can approach. The scene at the kitchen table makes that admission central to their relationship.

The empty cushion on New Year’s Day and Daddy’s broken voice in the later conversation show two different forms of absence. One marks the wife he has lost; the other marks the limits he feels as a sole father. Neither makes him emotionally distant from his daughters. Rather, the family’s rituals and his efforts to respond to their distress show him continuing to build a home around what remains: care offered in concrete acts, and a promise that his daughters can come to him even when the subject is painful.