Yumi's Cells Season 2 (2022)

I liked it less than Season 1, but I still appreciated the new season!

I was literally in the middle of randomly rewatching season 1 of Yumi's cells when season 2 finally appeared! Yay!!! If you were a fan of season 1 then season 2 tries hard to recapture that magic and continue Yumi's story right from where the last episode ended. I was glad to see all of the old characters and cells return, but I will also confess that I am unapologetically team Wung, and was rooting for him more than Yumi at the end of season 1. I say that so that my bias is clear, although I will try to not let that cloud my review too much.

I think the main issue I had with this season is that unlike season 1, which was a clear linear plot about the evolution of Yumi & Wung's love story, season 2 tries to possibly do too much. Yes, as you can see from the poster art, Yumi has a new main love interest, Yoo Babi from season 1. We do get to see their relationship turn romantic and get introduced to Babi's cute and festive cells, but a lot of time is also spent on Yumi's writing career, some new characters, and an appreciated update on Wung too. I didn't read the webtoon, so maybe they just tried to fit as much of the original content as they could into the story. Sadly, although Yumi's emotions and the storytelling overall is still super creative and often relatable, the actual plot starts to drag and get repetitive about halfway through. And although watching season 1 first makes the most sense, there are plenty of flashbacks for context just in case you skip to this season for Park Jin Young as the male lead.

He may not have been the ship I wanted to sail but he is cute, so I understand.

Speaking of Park Jin Young as Babi, I do think he played his role pretty well, but once Babi became the center of the story he also became super boring. He and Kim Go Eun do have some cute chemistry moments in the first episodes but there are also quite a few cringy-trying-too-hard-cute moments too. Their cells often have to save the day to keep the story fun, or make their fights much more engaging. Watching Yumi become super jealous and distrustful on loop was already annoying in season 1, but Babi always being even-keeled with the same bland smile or sad expression just made it worse. If you are a Park Jin Young fan I'm sure he will be sufficiently cute for you to enjoy but compared to the chemistry in season1 I was kinda disappointed. Side couples were often much more interesting than the leads were. Wung's character having a decent amount of guest star screen time helped a lot too, but he always wore a shirt this time : ( #imissedhisabs

The rest of the cast were the same quirky characters I liked in the first season with some good new editions. My favorite of the new characters hands down was illustrator Control Z. ("Zeeeeeeee" lol ). He was another character that saved me from wanting to drop the tedious love story parts. I was hoping Da Eun would be as involved in the story as Sae Yi was, but I feel like she was underutilized. I think because of the self-centered nature of the Yumi character some great performances are more like guest appearances than the feel of an ensemble cast. There were some literal good guest star moments too. Park Jin Joo's cameo was really funny.

And all of the voice actors were amazing once again! I truly missed their antics!

Another plot issue was, as inspiring as Yumi's writing pursuit was, without the cell's POV, that was boring to watch as well, and definitely started to feel like filler in the last episodes.

Kim Go Eun as Yumi grew on me too and had a little more life in her performance this time. Or maybe that's just compared to boring Babi. Bland Babi's character was never allowed to evolve much past pursuing Yumi. Or was the lined black and white version of Babi also a metaphor for his lack of a personality? Apparently, in the original story he's the fan favorite, but I had a hard time seeing his appeal in the show. Their relationship was shady from the start, which was also pretty hard for me to look past after liking Wung so much!

Would I watch this again? Sure. I would definitely skip past a lot of scenes but the same charm of the cells and getting frustrated at Yumi makes even this messy plot still fun to watch. The Cells are everything, and along with favorites (like naughty) they really got creative with some of these new cells... like the hilarious "hand"!

And yes, I still love the OST and the new song editions. I was very glad to hear certain songs again.

Overall, it's super hard to recapture the energy of a successful first season, which the writer even blatantly has Yumi stressed over during the show's last episode (very meta). What Yumi's Cells 2 does well is stick to what worked in season 1 without trying to repeat it exactly. I still never cried, but I LOLed often. It's still the perfect length to binge and re-binge, even if the story drags at times. I got some character updates that I needed. I still wished for more growth from Yumi, but through her chasing her dream I saw some. I was also satisfied with everything ending as it did, and how they implied what was next in Yumi's love life without me needing to see it all played out, but if they do decide to actually go for a season 3, count me in... again!

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Disappointed

This was one of my confort drama until last week.I seriously cant rewatch .As a viewer,it's so hurt.
A part from story line Acting from both actors was so good.
My enegry drained by this drama.

ppl blamed on babi too much,i love the character of his.
He is 10 out of 10.
He is too good to be true.ppl r pointed out on his mistakes which he dint do.

who is the red flag in here?
Its yumi she forced herself to fall in love with someone when she was not ready.

Screenwriters played the viewers heart by adding too many plots from soonrook.
They should have followed the webtoon if they dont want to change the endings.

I will never ever rewatch this drama.

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An educational kdrama

This kdrama is one of my top kdrama, it has its sweet and fun moments that makes me giggle or give me butterflies. Its so bright and leaves a lot of good feeling after each episode that I wished it had more episodes than just 14. The first season was good, but this season feel more special to me idk why. It is really educational I found! It teaches to think before any action or before responding to someone. It also teaches well how to communicate with people around you, like being honest and act wise and properly. It has its funny scenes, romantic scenes, cringe and so on… kinda a slice of life but not that slow!
The reason why I gave 8 for rewatch value is because this kind of drama is good to be watched just once, but for sure it worth to watch it, because its not a kdrama with a love story and the end, its a character’s life their hobby, their relationship, their friendship, their free time…

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Unsatisfying conclusion

I very much enjoyed the story overall, especially (since I'm a guy) how both of her boyfriends were generally kind and thoughtful. Many times they actually anticipated Yu-mi's unvoiced concerns and brought them up to discuss. It rankled me to see Yu-mi's immaturity in this season, when she was so strict about boyfriends who are "swayed" even for a moment. Better communication and effort might have rekindled her relationship with Ba-bi.

Of course, you never know how (hypothetically) her friendships with both of her ex-boyfriends might blossom into a romantic relationship once again. But I'm sorry, the ending was thoroughly unsatisfying and reminded me of the terrible ending of "When the Weather is Fine," where no one ends up together or seemingly very happy.

To end a drama series with a firm statement that the leading lady is strong and independent and "don't need no man to make her happy" is just the reason we left American television. It's a good reminder to me that, in the future, I'll carefully select what dramas I watch based on user reviews after they have completed.

The drama was a fun ride, but I would never watch it again because I know how it ends.

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Lackluster

I enjoyed Yumi's Cell, so was looking forward to this one. However, I find myself a little bored. I just don't feel the chemistry between Babi and Yumi compared to scenes with Yumi and Wung. I think the actor who plays Babi, just doesn't have the depth (his emotion are flat) compared to the actor who plays Wung ...you feel his emotion. I wish that didn't bring Wung back because you feel so bad for him. I know in the webtoon she ends with neither of them, so it makes it hard to watch because what's the point to get attach to the characters if you know it is not going to end well. You invest in the character and in the last episode she ends up with someone else. I definitely don't think there needs to be a Yumi 3. It is just me, but I keep rooting for Wung, but I know it is pointless. Both relationship our pointless, if the series ends like the webtoon because the series is just a snippet of the long, running webtoon.

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Bittersweet journey to the core of "yourself"!

I won't make my review unnecessarily lengthy. Obviously you're here for "What's there to like?" Let me answer that for you...
When I started watching Yumi's cells S1 honestly I came for Ahn Bo Hyun. But stayed for the plot. Why? Because it the plot speaks for us. I felt myself in Yumi. She's You, she's us! The emotional rollercoaster we face everyday in our daily life, the hurdles we overcame, the breakups we've been through, the thoughts left unsaid, those overwhelming situations made me laugh, angry, and cry too.
In the mid of S2 I was really confused about the plot. The characters and screenwriters successfully put us into a abyss of contemplation. Which I must say is worth contemplating for!
Ms. Yumi earned my respect. She isn't perfect. She knows how to compromise but she'll never settle for less.
And lastly the beautiful OSTs Ling Ling, Shinning on Your Night both just stole my <3

If you don't want to watch it yes you can skip, no big deal. But if you watch this till the end, I can assure you won't regret it.

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Disappointing

When it became obvious near the end, that this was just turning into a set-up for a sequel, I lost al patience with it. It is not nearly as charming as the first one was. This included a lot more violence - yes, the cells got violent and it didn't add much to the story. BaBi struck me as a nice guy but boring - he's a company man with not much personality of his own. I loved Woong's quirkiness, his ambition, his creativity. Babi was smooth and dull. And at the end, neither won Yumi, whom I decided was as boring as BaBi. I don't get why these guys are falling for here, there doesn't seem to be much to her other than - well, the cells. Another series that should have quit while it was ahead.

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Cells steal the show for 2nd season

The second season has parallels with the first, but the cells are more prominent when they were more of a side note in the first season. Not just Yumi's cells but all the cells that appear. They provide the most comedy in the second season whereas Wung was the source of it in the first. Personally, I prefer season 1 but season 2 is deeper emotionally.
I've always thought the overall story is more about Yumi's bittersweet relationship with Wung, which is a much more interesting and emotionally packed story arc. I've always hated the going out, breaking up and getting back together storyline which has become a cliché (boring) and it happens here which is why I prefer the Yumi-Wung storyline.
At the very least the show exposes human imperfections and their decision-making driven by these imperfections. Yumi's hypocrisy, Wung's inability to swallow his pride and BaBi's creepy smile and sociopathic tendencies, and the latter made me worried for Yumi's future had she ended up marrying him. That's because Babi's daddy issues would have been exposed even more and his sociopathic tendencies will manifest into domestic violence and infidelity, but let's not go there. Let's be honest, Babi has been creeping around Yumi since the beginning and pounced on his prey the moment Wung was out of the picture; he mentions he doesn't get on with his father which hasn't been fully explored, and they haven't shown enough of what really happened between Babi and Da Eun. There is no way he didn't dip his bulgogi in her gochujang.
In the end, I hope they all end up with who they deserve. Babi doesn't deserve Yumi and Yumi doesn't deserve Wung. The series has an open ending so a potential for a third season which I would gladly welcome, but wouldn't mind if it ended that way coz that's how life is; there is no happy or sad ending, it just goes on until death.

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It started as a rom-com and finished as a melodrama.

I'm going to keep this review short because I feel like if you liked Yumi Cells 1 then you will like Yumi Cells 2 because it has the same tone and feeling, despite me thinking it was going to be different.

I knew the ending of Yumi Cells 1 prior to watching the series so I knew that Yumi wouldn't end with Wung, but I stuck with the series because I was SUPER curious of Ba Bi. Even though he's suppose to be older, he's obviously 5 years younger, but you can't help but be sucked into his idol face.

The drama starts out as a rom-com and I loved it. I loved watching the cute couple do their cute couple things. I loved the side stories (like Ruby). It felt very refreshing and different from the first season (or so I thought).

THEN, it starts to go into melodrama mode and ah, so this is truly the heart and feel of the series. I will be honest and say I did cry a few tears and that hardly ever happens to me. I felt very emotional and if that was the writer's true intention then they did a good job.

Overall, I'm not sure if I am the right audience for this drama, but if you liked the first season, then you will not be disappointed with the second season.

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A story of love and pain

The second season was as good as the first one. Kim Go Eun as Kim Yu Mi did a fantastic job of portraying the real-life struggles of a woman trying to find her happy ending. The time jumps made the story feel more realistic as nothing was too rushed. Jinyoung and Ahn Bo Hyun portrayed their roles very well. Do not expect any twists and turns but you will still be entertained.

In the end, we also got a happy ending that was not as predictable for those who did not read the webtoon. I am really happy that Yu Mi did not get back together with either Ba Bi or Woong. It truly felt as if she got her own happy ending. The final episode wrapped the series nicely.

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Better than Season 1

Yes I liked this better than Season 1. Probably because I like Jinyoung (who plays Yu Ba Bi) ;)

S2 introduced some new cells which added to the humour and storyline. I especially liked the tongue cells having tea together LOL!

Yu Ba Bi was great!!! Until he wasn’t ... :( he was the perfect guy and bf. Until he too started lying and hiding things from Yumi, with the ruse of not wanting her to worry, or overreact. Is it a guy thing to think like that? Whereas all the women want is for their man to be honest and open. Yumi was right to be upset and hurt, but I felt it didn’t warrant such a quick break up without even talking it through and giving some time to think and breathe. I also understand why BaBi was upset that she could break up so easily, as if her love wasn’t deep enough to hold on. And couldn’t she trust him? Couldn’t he hv been more honest?

After the break up, the character of BaBi didn’t make sense any more. It seemed the writers just needed a reason for the 2nd break up. Him hiding the accident, thinking of regrets and then proposing marriage?? What the... and they didn’t even discuss their issues after getting back together. Such poor and unhealthy communication. No relationship can last like this.

However I did like the professional development of Yumi becoming a writer. But Wung becoming a CEO in just two years?? That’s a bit far-fetched. I really loved the scene where he and Babi met at the hospital and they had a who’s-better-for-Yumi tiff off. Hahaha

Don’t expect too much with the storyline. It’s not a happy ending per say, but a good realistic one. :)

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My review is SOLELY based on the show not the webtoon.

I have not read the Webtoon, so I can only write based on how the drama, not on how well it matched the original story. That said, I know some of the plot points that were supposed to happen.

I will say the actors made the show come alive, I think they did a great job playing their roles. I know Kim Go Eun is a great actress and she delivered, but I am particularly impressed with Jinyoung's acting. I think he did above and beyond acting as Yu Babi, he made it hard to me to see him apart from his character.

But for the story, I think it was a bit lacking. Like many shows it started off great, it was delightful and I found myself laughing from episode to episode, I was excited for Fridays/Saturdays because new episodes came out, but after the inevitable break-up episode, the show was not as entertaining. To say the least, there was a push and pull between the characters and the show drags out a bit. That being said even if the show dragged a bit towards the cells made the show worth it. It was interesting to see them take on how humans interact and operate, and the cells were honestly the comedic relief that was needed. The cells made the show 70% worth it for me in the end.

I do think that there were some flaws with the characters that made the show frustrating but still engaging. I can't say I agree with all of Yumi's decisions, watching her at times was a bit frustrating. But I guess it just shows that she is human and not supposed to be the perfect main character, and I can appreciate that. And also Babi was very vague from start to finish, even from his cells' point of view, there is not much to Babi, and I still think that after finishing the show.

I don't want to give the ending away, but I felt like it was lackluster. I know how the Webtoon ends and I think the writers wanted to make the ending follow the Webtoon, but also not follow Webtoon exactly. But the way that the show ended was unsatisfying. I know that some people who read the Webtoon thought it was a good ending, but as a sole watcher of the drama, it was just bland. It had some sweet elements, but I think it could have been executed better.

Honestly, I think this show, at least this season, was just a 7.5, it was an original idea, but it wasn't executed well. This is nothing against the original creator of the Webtoon, but honestly speaking, even if I read the webtoon I think I would still rate it the same.

Overall the cells made the show worth it, but about halfway through the show it dragged and was a bit frustrating.

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