The Things That Yumi Hates
Episode 9 of Yumi’s Cells Season 2 begins with Yumi meeting her new illustrator, Control Z. She tries hard not to laugh at his pen name, and is taken aback by how abrupt and unusual he is. When he snorts at her manuscript, he admits this isn’t his type of genre as it’s so unrealistic. That remark alone causes all of Yumi’s Cells to burst with anger as they struggle to control themselves in the wake of such insolence. Control Z gives as good as he gets when Yumi coldly bites back, and points out that the characters in the manuscript are way too honest. In fact, Control Z sarcastically retorts that it’s amazing Yumi is in a 100% honest relationship. Their second meet doesn’t go much better, with Yumi deliberately ordering ginger pie (something Control Z doesn’t recommend) and questioning the illustrator’s choice of pictures. As for Control Z, he simply smiles and calls her coy. Yumi vents to Bobby and he ends up buying her some cake to make up for her bad mood. Still, it doesn’t stop Yumi getting annoyed, especially when Control Z messages her. Yumi lets her Profanity Cell out, which swears constantly, but she decides against cursing out her illustrator. After all, she needs to at least try to be professional! Yumi manage to keep everything under control though as she heads off to Jeju Island to see Bobby. However, Da-Eun returns too, given it’s Christmas. When Yumi mentions that Bobby is moving away from Jeju, she’s shocked and asks whether it’s because of her. Yumi mentions how absurd it would be for him to use this as a reason and eventually calls her a baby. Still, she’s not exactly happy about the girl confessing her feelings to her boyfriend. Eventually Yumi asks outright about Bobby’s move and questions whether it’s because of Da-Eun’s confession. Now, as we see from Bobby’s Love Cell, this actually is one of the reasons but Bobby completely lies and claims it’s not. When Yumi asks if he was swayed by her, Bobby once again struggles to answer and his silence is, unfortunately, deafening. As a result, Yumi decides they should break up. Yumi walks away, tears stinging her eyes, as Bobby tells the truth and admits that the feeling was temporarily and meant nothing. He apologizes for hurting her and continues on, pleading with Yumi and telling her nothing happened. Bobby even tells her he loves her. “Bobby, even if we keep dating it can’t be like it used to be.” She says, and eventually walks away. When she does, Love Cell goes on a rampage, until Yumi herself shows up in the village. She wants Love to concede her position as primary Cell and give it across to Writer Cell instead. She’s done with romance for now and wants to focus on her career.
The Episode Review
Poor Yumi ends up breaking up with Bobby and perhaps her confession at the end sums up what most of us feel in our day to day lives: “I just want to be happy.” Now, if you’re not happy with yourself then it’s unlikely you’ll be happy with someone else and Yumi’s Cells does do a good job of exemplifying that. However, it also comes at the expense of Yumi and Bobby breaking up, with Yumi unwilling to give Bobby a chance after he lied and managed to be swayed by Da-Eun. The fact that he so calmly lied to her face without even bating an eyelid – in a relationship where Yumi is already having trust issues thanks to Woong – it’s perhaps unsurprising. What’s particularly nice here though is how Yumi has realized that love doesn’t need to be her prime identity. In a society that values the whole “go to university, get married, have 2.5 kids, get a house with a white picket fence etc.” it’s refreshing to find a drama like this that values other aspects – like working on your career.
