kdramabinger posted: " Hangul: 유미의 세포들 - On a side note, I learned this week in my Korean class that 의 denotes possession. So the title is 유미(Yumi) 의(possession or 's in English) 세포들(Sepodeul which means cells in Korean)! Yay for recognizing Korean I just learned! Ori"
Hangul: 유미의 세포들 - On a side note, I learned this week in my Korean class that 의 denotes possession. So the title is 유미(Yumi) 의(possession or 's in English) 세포들(Sepodeul which means cells in Korean)! Yay for recognizing Korean I just learned!
Original Air Date: Season 1: September – October 2021 (currently streaming on Viki)
Plot: Based on a webtoon, this romantic comedy tells the story of Kim, Yumi and her search for love by showing us an animated version of her thoughts, emotions and feelings of the cells in her head. If you've seen Disney's Inside Out, it is a very similar concept, but with a more adult romance theme.
My Review: I absolutely loved Yumi's Cells! As a psychology major and a counselor, I find human emotions and behavior to be extremely fascinating. Without the cell concept, this would have been categorized into a run of the mill romantic comedy that frustrates you with the miscommunication and conflicts. But the added layer of getting into the subconscious of the main characters really made this a unique drama. The writer did an amazing job capturing all the complexities that go into human emotions and how they impact our decisions and behavior. I thought the drama did a great job of cutting back and forth between Yumi (played by Kim Go Eun) and the animation that was occurring in her head. The added dynamic occurred when her romantic interest Goo Woong (played by Ahn Bo Hyun) showed up and we were able to see the cells inside of his head. I thought they did such a realistic job of showing the gender differences that men and women approach relationships and their communication styles. For example, Yumi would sometimes emotionally blurt out what she was thinking. Whereas Goo Woong would write a long narrative in his head of his emotions, but then edit out 90% of it and go with a very short version of what he was really feeling. How many times in our life have been frustrated with a guy who doesn't share what he is really thinking! Ugh, Goo Woong is that guy that drives us all nuts!!!
A few of Yumi's cells. Hunger is top middle, got to love him!
Some of the cells that I could really relate to:
Hunger Cell – When you really need to finish your work, but that hunger cell consumes all your thoughts!
Stomach Cell – Similar to the hunger cell, got to love that stomach cell that makes separate room for dessert even though you are super full!
Sensitive Cell – The cell that is fragile and can get hurt so easily with a little comment or text that isn't what you expected
Rational Cell - This is probably one of my primary cells. Always thinks about thinks rationally and logically.
Reaction Cell/Fix your face cell – The cell that tries to cover what you are really feeling to put on a brave face or hide what you are really thinking to be more socially appropriate or not let others see inside you
Stingy Cell vs Shopping Cell – Oh how this is me, want to dress nicer, but too stingy to buy nice clothes!
Pride Cell – We all need to get that pride and save face in front of others
Naughty Cell – Hilariously depicted without pants. I love that in a Korean drama that is usually tries to portray conservativeness with sex, they were able to show that females do have a sex drive inside of them and it's natural and okay.
Woong also had all the same cells in his head, but his cells processed information and emotions a little differently than Yumi. Also, some cells had higher priority than others. For example, his pride cell was a lot higher priority than Yumi's. Which lead to some constant communication breakdown between the two as he often prioritized himself and his pride over Yumi. I thought that Ahn Bo Hyun did well playing Woong. I originally thought this was the first drama I've seen him in. But google tells me I've seen him in three other dramas: Descendants of the Sun, Her Private Life and Itaewon Class. Ah that's right, he was the bad guy in Itaewon class that I hated, that's probably why I didn't glom on to him! I'm glad he was able to get this lead role and cement himself more in the leading man category.
The drama also had two other Korean cuties that I love. Shinee's Choi Min Ho who I adored in Hwarang and Got7's Park Jin Young who was great in He is Psychometric. Why is it that some idols can just transition so well to acting?
*spoiler alert*
I am reading some unhappiness about the abrupt ending, so I wanted to throw in my two cents. I thought it was great. I am really happy they broke up. It was actually very refreshing to me that the drama did not force us to accept that Yumi could only date one guy and that was it. It's more realistic that people have multiple relationships and grow from each one until they find the one to marry. I actually did not think they were a great couple. Yes, they had some happy moments, but they never once resolved their underlying trust issues and communication issues. Even in the big hotel blow out, they didn't communicate, it was Naughty Cell's that took over, but they never talked out what went wrong or apologized to each other. And it just kept on popping back up over the year of their relationship. This isn't just Woong's fault for putting pride above his real emotions. It's also Yumi's fault for tip toeing around the concept of marriage with him and not giving him space to express himself and get an honest answer. Even when Yumi asked for a break, she never said why. She never said what was bothering her in the relationship and tried to fix it, she went for the breakup card. I understand that she was afraid to get rejected for sure if she said what she was really feeling, but that is a fundamental problem in their relationship if they still can't express their inner emotions to themselves. If they both gave each other the space to be honest with each other and not afraid to be vulnerable, I would have supported their relationship more. I also liked how at the end, Yumi reflected, "Is it Woong I really love or is it the idea of being alone again that scares me?" I think that is so on point with why so many girls stay in relationships, it's more about the fear of being alone.
*spoiler alert over*
As you can tell, I loved this drama. Season 2 is supposed to come out next year. I can't wait to see where the drama takes us. I'm so tempted to read the webtoon, I read the first couple chapters and it's following really close to the script. I believe it was chapters 1-40 that were in this Season 1.
Yumi's Cells is a fantastic Korean drama that explores our inner emotions and thoughts in a cute and adorable way. The writer captures so many aspects of human behavior so well. Kim Go Eun is great with her facial expressions and you really feel like she is being controlled by those cells in her brain. I just wish she had a better bang cut! Her hair cut was probably the worst part about the drama to me!
Trust me, go watch this. And then our anxious cells can wait in anticipation together for Season 2!
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