Early Access: Yumi's Cells E2 (Patreon)

E2. Gosh, I am enjoying this show so much, that I'm already wishing that this one had 16 episodes instead of 14. Or more. I'd happily watch 20 episodes of this, maybe even 30. It's just that good. 😍

The fangirl in me is slightly deflated that Yumi turns down Babi's confession, because that confession had been legit as earthy as it is swoony, BUT, it really is the smarter, more rational decision, that Yumi not jump into dating someone, right after her breakup with Woong.

And, I do appreciate that Yumi's got enough sense about her, to realize this, even though she's still reeling from the breakup, and therefore her emotions are more vulnerable than average.

That whole moment of confusion and discombobulation at what Babi's confession really means (the phrase he uses for "date" is "만나" ("manna") which can be used interchangeably to mean either "date" or "meet"), where the various cells assert what they think it means, leading to Detective cell to declare that clarification is needed, is so perfectly on point.

And how funny-perfect is it, that the cells at Yumi's health center, observe her self-esteem skyrocketing, which is pronounced to be a good thing - until it crosses over into dangerous territory.

Hahaha. That's so on-point; I love it.

Of COURSE receiving a love confession while she's in the wake of a breakup, would cause Yumi's self-esteem to rise. But how believable too, that it would go over the top, and turn into Princess syndrome, heh. 😁

It's really kinda secondhand embarrassing to see Yumi revel in her bloated sense of self-esteem in Babi's eyes, only to get all jealous when he doesn't pay her the kind of attention that she expects.

Like how she rationalizes, when his morning greeting to her is short, that he never gives long greetings - only to be thrown off, when she witnesses him having a longer exchange with Ruby.

And how she concludes that he's been hurt because of her rejection, heh.

It's pitch perfect and feels true to human behavior, and right now, I would so love to see what some of Babi's cells have to say about all this.

Like, is he really hurt by Yumi's rejection? Is his cheerful demeanor just a cover-up for a broken heart? I would love to know! But.. Show doesn't give us insight into Babi's cells this episode, so that will have to wait.

Of course, Yumi may have rejected Babi, but she's still extremely hyperaware of him, and then, when she spots him with his ex-girlfriend while on the way to work, the way she gets peeved and offended, like she's jealous, is such a relatably territorial thing to do.

Logically, it should be none of her concern, since she's rejected Babi, but she still expects Babi's affection and attention to be on her, right, so she can't help feeling cheated, when she sees him with his ex-girlfriend, whom she assumes he's dating again.

Reason cell trying to rationalize the whole thing into a mic, while all the other cells bawl in misery, is so rueful-funny.

But, y'know, there's a kind of sense about this, in that, if Babi's feelings for Yumi were true and strong, then he wouldn't be dating anyone else so soon.

So, Yumi feeling cheated, is about the fact that Babi's feelings appear to have been nothing much at all, after all - at least, from her point of view.

It's not surprising that so many of the Babi fan cells now turn into anti-fans, out of anger and disappointment. (Again, such a pointed bit of meta, in terms of how the kpop fandom works!)

Babi really wins brownie points with me, though, with the way he picks up on the fact that Yumi feels uncomfortable around him, and gets off the bus, so that she'll be more comfortable.

That's sensitive and proactive, and is way better than powering through the bus ride, unsure of whether it's making Yumi dislike him, for making her feel uncomfortable.

Ahaha, how cute, that the cells are angry with Babi for being the one to make Yumi uncomfortable in the first place, but that they can't help squeeing over how polite and cool he is, for getting off the bus like that.

What a great reflection of how Yumi feels, as she watches Babi at the bus stop, while her bus pulls away. She must be all peeved too - but flustered at the same time, that he's being so cool.

No wonder she caves and texts him, almost like daring him to deny that he's the one who feels uncomfortable, instead of her. After all, this enables her to maintain her stance of being peeved at him, but allows her to contact him, and enable some sort of connection, heh.

I'm so glad for the spot of honesty that occurs during their texts, because that allows the misunderstanding to come to light - and gives Babi a chance to fix things.

Heh. Sometimes blurting out the truth can have its positive effects after all, eh, even if it's embarrassing?

I'm glad that Babi asks Yumi to wait for him, and that she does wait for him, even though she's uncertain of where this is going.

And way to turn things around, Babi, coz when Yumi sees him and starts blurting out that she has no reason to wait for him, it looks like things are about to go downhill.

But he just looks at her in amazement, and breathes, "It's so nice, that you waited for me."

Just like that, Babi stops Yumi in her ranting tracks, and instead, they end up having a nice conversation at the bus stop, which feels like a breath of fresh air. Aw. I really like that.

And, I really like that Yumi becomes cognizant that Babi's an extraordinary person, for being able to express his heart, even when he's rejected. And it feels meaningful too, that this realization is articulated by Love cell, who's finally awake, but needs more time to recovery fully.

That's exactly it. Babi's so lovely, that Yumi's Love cell has woken up out of her coma, and now Yumi's cognizant and appreciative of Babi's awesomeness, even though she doesn't feel ready to love again.

And then, all the involuntary heart balloons rising up all over Cell Town, as Yumi becomes more hyperaware of Babi, is so perfect. Yes, I can see how involuntary positive feelings might arise, now that Yumi's decided that Babi's great.

How cute, that Reason does his best to get rid of those balloon hearts, but fails, because there're just too many of them. At least we know that Yumi's rational side is trying..? 😁

But yes, it is unfortunate timing, because now that Yumi's more open to interacting with Babi, he seems to be keeping that cautious line between them.

The way Yumi goes to the park, all dressed in an effortlessly casual look, hoping to run into Babi, is so relatable. As is the way she ends up disappointed, when she doesn't actually run into him like she'd hoped. 😝😅

The fact that the supposed chance to "break the hearts" shows up in Babi's aversion to bugs, doesn't even faze Yumi one bit, in her positive feelings towards Babi, says everything, in my opinion.

If there were even a small chance of her snapping out of her Babi heart-eyes, this would've been it.

The fact that she finds his aversion to bugs cute instead of off-putting, means that there's literally nothing much in the world right now, that would turn Yumi off Babi. Unless he turned out to be a serial murderer or something - but this isn't that kind of show. 😁

How troublesome, though, that Babi now actually agrees to go on that blind date that Ruby keeps bugging him about.

That's surely going to galvanize Yumi into action of some sort.. I mean, now that she's discovering that she likes him, surely she wouldn't easily allow this blind date to happen?

Would she - gasp - make a confession, to stop him from going..? I can't wait to find out! 😁

Next episode notes will be out on: Tuesday, 21 June 2022!