Love Cells

Love Cells

3.5/10

Love Cells

Genre:                                     Episodes: 15                         Year: 2014

Romance

Comedy

Fantasy

Synopsis:

Unemployed and unlucky in love, Ma Dae Choong has been single for many years, harbouring a crush on top star Seo Rin. In order to save it’s own life, one of Ma Dae Choong’s love cells manifests in the form of a girl, determined to help Dae Choong realise his romance with Seo Rin.

Cast:

Park Sun Ho (Ma Dae Choong)

Kim Yoo Jung (Nebi)

Nam Ji Hyun (Seo Rin)

Baek Sung Hyun (Chun Ji Woon)

General Thoughts:

The short episodes did this drama no favours. It took too long (percentage wise not time wise) to sort out character set up and get the plot in motion. At least a third of the drama was devoted to character and plot introductions. 

Our riveting hero

The idea itself was totally random, but with enough explanation could make some sense- but again, the series just didn’t have enough time to give the plot enough buildup. A love cell gets eaten by a cat and then the cat turns into a girl whose goal is to get the main male lead a girlfriend. It’s all a tad on the strange side. 

Soooo...is she human or no?

Once the series settles down a bit and falls into stride (and gets a wee bit less random) it actually becomes quite enjoyable. As unbelievable as the circumstances are, it starts edging towards sweet and satisfying. Ma Dae Choong is never a riveting character and definitely lacks that intoxicating quality that most male leads need, but becomes cute enough in his endeavours to woo the famous star- who herself is quite enjoyable as a character. Nebi the cat/girl/love-cell is just confusing. While her goal is initially clear, no one has any idea what she actually is. Does she have individual feelings as a human or does she only exist as a part of Dae Choong with the same goals and desires as the man himself? Nobody knows. It felt a little like the writers just didn’t have a plan and kinda just let things happen. Which doesn’t make for the most consistent drama.

What Was Great:

Wooing Seo Rin:

The whole portion of the drama that revolved around Nebi and Dae Choong working together to win Seo Rin’s heart was definitely the most entertaining. There were set circumstances and events that our hero and his cat sidekick had to manipulate and work around to achieve their goal. 

Nothing new- but sweetly entertaining

Sure, it was super predictable- but it made sense. As a viewer, I knew what my characters wanted and could see how they were making efforts to turn those wants into reality. It just made sense. While not insanely exciting or enthralling, it was entertaining enough. Even if there wasn’t a heap of it, and even though it wasn’t exactly a huge problem, there was some sort of conflict for our characters to overcome- unlike in the beginning and later stages of the drama.

What Wasn’t:

That is the question of the hour

Randomness:

The whole drama just held a slight air of ridiculousness. While some of the randomness in the series could come of cute, much of it just seemed stupid. Like Seo Rin being so allergic to squid that she faints at a single touch. Or that she’s then held hostage by a crazy manager- who uses squid to terrorise her. Like, am I supposed to feel fear for Seo Rin right now? It’s a squid on a stick…c’mon.

Breaks the Dramaverse Rules:

The writers set up some rather confused, illogical rules for their created world right at the start of the series. While these rules might not make the most logical sense- they’re still there. And as long as a drama sticks to it’s own rules from start to finish I don’t have a problem. ‘Love Cells’ does not stick to it’s own rules from start to finish. Some new rules are introduced half way (like Nebi giving up half her remaining life span to buy magic items for Dae Choong), and in the last episode dramaverse laws are just blatantly ignored. The whole point of the series is that if Dae Choong doesn’t get a girlfriend his love cells will die and he will never be able to love again. Yet he doesn’t date Seo Rin, and nothing really ever happens with Nebi. 

Just...what?

Then Nebi dies (oh hey Woo Bin- love cell hunter? Okay, sure whatevs- nothing else in this series makes any bloody sense). So Dae Choong’s love cell is dead. So by all means he shouldn’t be able to love again. But heyo- he still can as shown by his immediate interest in that girl that looks like Nebi in the last moments of the series. I mean come on. It’s not even Nebi. But apparently we’re all supposed to ignore that Nebi is dead now.

Again...what?

Re-watch?

Goodness no. The series had moments of cuteness but was overall just very confused. I didn’t even know who the main pairing was supposed to be. WHO AM I MEANT TO BE CHEERING FOR?!

I have no idea why anything happened in this drama