Well, I did it. When I saw they had made a Love Cells 2 I told myself, since I really wasn’t thrilled with the original, I wasn’t going to watch the sequel. But I had just finished watching Oh, My Venus and while laying in bed with a cold I thought, “Its short. You might as well see if they improved on the first one.” So, I turned it on and finished it all in one go. Is it any better than the original Love Cells? Happily, yep!
The two main characters are the same…
Dae-Choong (which happens to be spelled “Tae-Joon” in season 2) and his love cell Navi the cat/girl.
Things were a bit vague but became a bit more clear after episode four explained Tae-Joon’s past. I was expecting “season 2” to begin where the first Love Cells had ended but, actually, quite a bit of time had passed. Tae-Joon is a semi-famous chef with his own restaurant and cooking show. He had made his career a priority over the girlfriend he had, Ye-Bom, and she finally gave up on their relationship. He was so hurt after she left that he put his love cell in the love cell bank. You see, without his love cell he can still remember Ye-Bom but his heart, which is lead by his love cell, can’t feel anything so he won’t be sad from their breakup. However, Navi escapes the love cell bank prison and finds her way back to Tae-Joon. But there’s a bit of a problem – Tae-Joon is not happy she’s back and the co-host of his cooking show, Hye-Ri, threatens to destroy Navi for good if she doesn’t help her win Tae-Joon’s love.
The acting is a bit better in this than it was in the first one. It could be, perhaps, that the main male character has been recast with Im Seul-Ong playing the part of Tae-Joon. I thought his acting was so much better than the first guy. And the story wasn’t as silly as the original. The screenwriter was the same for both seasons, Cha Hyun-Jin, but I appreciate the fact that he chose to be a bit more serious with season two. The soundtrack was much better than the first show. I especially liked the beatbox sound in the beginning song. The directing was better, the night scenery was quite pretty, and Navi had an older, more sophisticated look this time around. The costume folks did a great job with the clothing, giving both Navi and Yi-Bom loose fitting, very modest clothing while the rotten vixen had the tight, revealing clothes. A great contrast on the outside showing the difference of the women’s insides. I feel like a lot more thought and energy went into this show than it did in the first one.
The show is only 12 episodes long this time around, with each one being about 9 minutes long. So it’s shorter, but still better, than its predecessor. However, once again, it’s not much more than a “surface drama”. (If you don’t know what that is, check out my review of the first Love Cells and that will explain it for you.) Although, this time, because I was familiar with who the main characters are and know a bit of their background, I wasn’t quite as emotionally distant as before.
If you watched the first Love Cells I recommend you see Love Cells 2 as well. It’s much more enjoyable and entertaining than the original. But, if you didn’t see the first one, this won’t make any sense to you and you’ll just be wasting your time.
Score: 4.5
The Good:
Much better, in every way, than the original
Im Seul-Ong as Tae-Joon
The Bad:
Still just a “surface drama”
Heart and Seoul 