Yumi’s Cells: Episode 2 Open Thread

by missvictrix

Our heroine means business, and isn’t about to let some girly girl from the office steal her potential beau. She’s willing to go to great lengths, but in the end, her crush does not take the desired course. Instead, it leads our heroine down a whole new road, and into a whole new land of confusion for her and her cells.

 
EPISODE 2 WEECAP

After the debacle of the flower festival plans, the tides finally turn in Yumi’s favor. She blurts out what she must to secure her one-on-one time with Woo-ki. Ruby pouts, but Yumi is victorious. Her cells rejoice with her and start preparing for tomorrow, which means taking the Fashion Cell (with her oversized shades lol) out of exile, and putting her to work to make Yumi date-ready.

The day seems perfect, but as Yumi heads to meet Woo-ki, she’s soon faced with a major issue: Ruby is calling. And worse than that, she soon appears across the street all gussied up. The alarm is sounded in Cell Village, and Yumi not only ignores Ruby’s calls, but takes off at a breakneck speed away from Ruby and towards Woo-ki.

This sequence is positively hilarious. Yumi outruns a man on the footpath, dives over bushes, runs through a jump rope game, photobombs a couple, and dodges rogue frisbees. The clip at which she’s running makes this all the more hilarious, and every cell is on her side, cheering her on. When she finally reaches Woo-ki she can barely breath, but rushes him out of the park via the back entrance and shoves him into a taxi and sends them off to a favorite restaurant.

With the threat of Ruby lost in her dust, Yumi starts to settle down and focuses on swooning over Woo-ki who’s saying nice things and asking if she’s single. But then things start to go sideways. He’s asking her questions in such a way that it sounds like an inquiry rather than personal interest. And sure enough, he soon tells her that he’d like to set her up on a blind date with a great guy he knows.

Yumi’s shock is palpable and she can hardly hide it. She learns that he only asked where she lived because that’s where his friend lives, and only memorized her phone number because he’s good with numbers. Then she can’t hold it in anymore. She blurts out: if you think I’m so great why won’t you date me? And that is when the heartbreaking truth plays out. Woo-ki has someone else he likes. Yumi rightly assumes it’s Ruby, but he says no. He tells her it’s not a woman, and asks her to keep his secret safe.

All this time, as this sorry scene plays out, Yumi and her cells are holding back the flood of tears for all they’re worth. Pretty soon, though, there’s nothing she can do, and she rushes to the bathroom and erupts into sobs. We hear her sobs through the bathroom door, but in Cell Village they translate to a huge flood that puts their lives at risk — especially the Love Cell and True Feelings Cell, who wind up as castaways on a deserted island in a sea of tears.

This is the moment in the drama where I fell completely in love with it. I wasn’t 100% sold after Episode 1 – I liked it, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the animated interludes — but now I’m sold. The way they function in the story is just hands-down hilarious. And perfect. From the huge stomping takeover of the Hungry Cell we saw in Episode 1, to the desperate attempt of Yumi’s cells to control her facial expressions (or opt in desperation for the “automatic reactions”)… who hasn’t been there?

The cells and the happenings at Cell Village break the fourth wall in a way, giving us a reading of the story that’s both super meta, and completely relatable. I love how the ins and outs of Yumi’s daily life are not only augmented by the story of how her cells are aiding her, but also that they act as her cheerleaders. I think that’s why I loved it the most — it’s so positive and sweet, thinking of all these parts of you that actively work for your betterment and happiness day in and day out.

But back to the story, Yumi is so bloody heartbroken that she agrees to Woo-ki’s blind date the very next day, and this is when we get a glimpse of our hero, GOO WOONG (Ahn Bo-hyun). He seems completely laid back and good-natured; he has no reason not to agree to Woo-ki’s blind date setup, and does it without too much worry.

I’m not sure what it was about his character, but I loved Woong right away. He’s just such a dude! Long wig hair and scruff, flip flops, mismatched shorts and t-shirt… he comes off as pure-hearted and simple, in the best sense.

But it’s when he meets Yumi that things really hit the fan. She approaches him with her promised red purse, but he’s sitting on a bench listening to music. When he realizes there is a red purse in front of him, and looks up to see Yumi staring down at him and greeting him, he vapor locks. We get a tour of Woong’s Cell Village, where a mist has taken over and there’s not a cell in sight: he’s blanking. Back in the real world, the poor guy can’t even string a sentence together. He’s so befuddled that he looks like a buffoon, and poor Yumi and her cells have to fake it till they make it.

And then they fake it till they make it a little more, when the pair heads to her favorite coffee shop. Woong remains verklempt, and can’t clear the fog in his head. He accidentally slams his head into the coffee shop door. When he finally thinks of something to say (thanks to his Humor Cell), he blurts out two of the worst dad jokes around. Yumi’s cells force her to laugh, while Woong thinks he’s managed to charm her. Oh the commentary — it’s too good.

With Episode 2 down, I can honestly say I love the tone the show has taken. There hasn’t been a heroine in a while that I related to quite so quickly, readily, or completely. Yumi is definitely my introvert everygirl, and her little daily struggles and victories feel all too real. With her cells at the ready to help her, every moment feels like an epic adventure (set to a very cute soundtrack).

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