In almost every drama, certainly every comedy, the actors make some kind of reference to how dramas have shaped the way people think.
The statements are usually on the order of "those dramas are so unrealistic," and its funny because the characters are acting as if the plot they are in is realistic.
In "Mary Stayed Out All Night" Jang Geun Suk's mom laughs at the dramas she watches, calling the plots unbelievable. In "You Who Came From The Stars," a doctor answers Kim Soo Hyun's medical expertise with the comment that he has probably been watching too many medical dramas. In "Flower Boy Ramen Shop," Lee Chung Ah's friend tells her that Jung Il Woo's character can't possibly like her because that kind of thing only happens in dramas. The drama reference is a fun way for drama writers to laugh at the enjoyably outlandish plots they create.
It is so likely that k-drama characters will make a reference to dramas that it can be fun to see when that reference will show up.
"High School King of Manners" ramps up the aegyo by having at least one reference in every episode.
When Seo In Guk talks about his brother who left Korea a long time ago, his friend asks "Is it a brother from another mother, like in the dramas?" Obviously dramas are full of brothers from another mother, siblings who have been hidden away.
In another episode Seo In Guk's character talks to Lee Ha Na's character about her crush on the doctor played by Lee Soo Hyuk. He says something like "One-sided love, I've seen that in dramas."
Fortunately, as the plot progresses, Lee Ha Na's character will have a chance at two-sided love.
In another episode, in a scene with a door, he says, "I saw this on a drama." He obviously learned a lot from watching dramas or his character would never be able to pull off his high-stakes balancing act between being a high school student and also the director at a major corporation.
And in another episode, the possibility that a bad situation might change for the better is met with the statement that changes like this can only happen in dramas.
So far, the drama is a lot of fun with clownish antics from Seo In Guk, a spot on impression of an Annie Hall-type character from Lee Ha Na and a very cool portrayal of a chaebol by Lee Soo Hyuk. But the most fun of all may be waiting for how the drama will introduce the subject of dramas once again.
Yes, life is nothing like a k-drama, which is why viewers love them.
