The generation of the first cell may well have been generated using a Darwinian selection mechanism, it's quite conceivable that it was generated by natural selection and would fit perfectly into the theory of evolution... Let's say the process started with some small molecule, natural selection took over in some way that lead to a protocell, then to a classical cell, then to various speciation events. That doesn't change the fact that the theory of evolution doesn't apply before cells.

Wild how he nearly perfectly lays out that

1: Natural selection acting on pre-cellular 'life forms' is the mechanism that explains the origin of cellular life forms.

2: Natural selection is part of the theory of evolution.

but doesn't follow this line of thinking to its conclusion