Disclaimer: the views and opinions in these assessments are observations made by the reviewer (s) and should in no way be construed as medical advice! If you have any questions, contact your GP for information!
The fight against invading bacteria in the gut and the fight against the Trio of Immunity against the Cancer Cell continues in what I will always call the “Yogurt Bow”. NK, Memory T and White Blood Cell have more difficulty than normal thanks to the Regulatory T Cell. RT Cell has appeared in previous episodes, but she is generally relegated to ‘office work’ with Helper T Cell. These final episodes show that she is equally capable of fighting … against the other cells of the immune system.
Visually, it can seem ridiculous that any cell can look at the cancer cell and think “Yes, this is normal;” in fact, I think the plot structure would benefit if there was some kind of physical representation of why RT Cell cannot “see” what Cancer Cell is for the body in general. Regardless, RT prevents Memory T from being able to effectively attack the cancer cell because it sees it as part of the host’s body and its job is to prevent immune cells from attacking and killing healthy cells within the body. Think about Cells in action! Code Black where killer T cells have gone crazy and wreaked havoc on the scalp; this is a perfect example of when a regulatory T cell should have intervened. Now I am interested to know why this is not the case. Either way, interference from regulatory T cells is, unfortunately, part of the reason why cancer cells can grow in the human body undetected until other problems arise. and why medical procedures for treating cancer are so extreme.
Meanwhile, in the gut, all those lactic acid bacteria invade and quickly kill invading bacteria. The opportunistic bacteria switch sides in favor of the good guys, so that they continue to infiltrate the intestine. I will be honest, the knowledge that my insides are basically a biosphere for bacteria to simply leave with little or no real symbiotic relationship irritates me. If you’re going to like all the delicious food I eat, couldn’t you at least, I don’t know, give me a superpower or something? Anyway, with the elimination of harmful bacteria, the environment in the intestine begins to resolve and is no longer a danger to small platelets.
The only remaining problem is the Cancer Cell and he became a complete Sephiroth in his quest for body domination. His evil plan is to initiate death in the name of cell freedom, allowing cells to exist without the limits of their respective roles. Of course, the whole body would break down, but he sees sacrifice as liberating. Things are looking in their favor until Memory T Cell receives its power-inducing flashback and releases perforin. RT Cell (hilariously) dodges and the protein-fed punch damages Cancer Cell enough to make RT Cell finally realize that it’s not a healthy cell. The cleansing of the intestinal toxin takes away its power, allowing the white blood cells to deliver the killing blow.
Overall, this was actually a very satisfying final battle with some semi-decent action segments for what would have otherwise been a questionable production. I never fully boarded with David ProductionThe cell-shading approach here and some of the episodes were less engaging than the previous season. The factoids were a little more “Basic Biology” and spending about half an already very short season focusing on lactic acid bacteria was very disappointing. Cancer Cell’s return was a good shipment, but combining it with the journey through the gut seemed forced. I would rather have seen something related to carcinogens.
Overall, I would say the series is an appropriate continuation of the first season, but it lacked the memorable jokes and diversity that kept me hooked in the first season.
Assessment:
Cells in action! is broadcasting on Funimation.