Is it the beard?
Episode 3 of Yumi’s Cells begins with Yu-mi forcing herself to laugh through Gu-Woong’s awful jokes. Thankfully their coffee is ready, with Gu-Woong keeping the conversation flowing by discussing what he’s working on back home. ..
Cell Land Hunger strikes, and just in time too given the other cells are so tired. Hilariously, Hunger plays a flute which is what causes her stomach to rumble. ..
Gu-Woong hears this but pretends he doesn’t, encouraging Yu-Mi to join him at a restaurant of his choice. In fact, she absolutely loves the food there too, wolfing down the dishes. This is enough to win over a lot of the cells - except Emotion. She keeps her guard up despite Gu-Woong hitting all the right notes. ..
After dinner, Gu-Woong suggests they go to the park and check out the frogs. While there, one of the workers asks if they’re a couple. While a bit awkward to begin with, Finance kicks in for Yu-Mi and focuses on how much money she can save if she says yes. Well, one thing leads to another and the pair snap a couple photo together, which Yu-Mi decides to put up on social media.
As they talk, Gu-Woong admits that he thinks Ru-Bi is weird, especially given the girl refers to herself in the third person. It’s enough to make Yu-Mi giggle – properly this time – and let her guard down a bit.
Yu-Mi is in a depressive spiral because of the date going well, and decides to go home.
This seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to her starting to date again and she left to save herself any heartache. Unfortunately, this has the knock-on effect of making Gu-Woong worried and wondering why she’s not replying to his messages.
GuWoong immediately heads online to search for information about his girlfriend, Yu-Mi. After finding out she is okay and having a good time, he messages her back to let her know he has shaved his beard. Yu-Mi is hilariously confused but decides it’s not slang or some sort of codeword.
With Hysteria still attacking Cell land, and Yu-Mi struggling to keep her usual calm and happy demeanor going, Gu-Woong messages and asks her out on a dinner date. The only trouble is, Yu-Mi’s phone breaks before she can reply.
Gu-Woong seeks council from Sae-Yi, who is concerned about the text messages between Yu-Mi and him and believes that Yu-Mi wanted to end the conversation but he didn’t get the hint, making him seem clingy. ..
Yu-Mi leaves work feeling unwell and decides to head home. However, Ru-bi follows her and suggests she call Woong and let him know. Yu-Mi instead decides to rant at the girl, admitting that she’s always been alone and will continue to be so given that’s what makes her happy. ..
As they talk, Woong suddenly shows up with an umbrella. Yu-Mi turns and looks at him in amazement.
The Episode Review
The first date is always so awkward. You overthink every little move, you analyze every text, and even a slight delay in receiving a message can send you on a full-blown CIA investigation to work out what went wrong. We’ve all been there! ..
The Cells perfectly captures the feeling of being trapped and helpless, and although the story is predominantly Yu-Mi’s, the inclusion of Gu-Woong’s Cell Land helps to balance things out and show that he’s just as vulnerable as she is.
This show is well implemented and although the main romance doesn’t really do anything outside the normal conventions of the genre, there’s enough here to enjoy thanks to the Cells. For this reason alone, Yumi’s Cells has been a really enjoyable watch and it’ll be interesting to see how the Cells react to this new turn of events!
