If you haven’t read the post that began this series, go here: The Truth Behind the Plot Twists.

If you’re all caught up, let’s just jump in, shall we?

Teen/High School Dramas

These dramas are exactly like the genre would have you think, dramas about teens and kids in high school. For the most part these overlap, but there are sometimes cases where the teen will not be in high school or are recently graduated. These, I believe, still apply to this genre.

This genre is simple because the vast majority of shows could also be considered romantic comedies or musicals, and center around–you guessed it–teen romance.

High school dramas can also be split into two even smaller minor categories: plot-focused and character-focused. Character-focused dramas will revolve around the people and the romantic aspects of the plots (relationships). Plot-focused will be centered around a certain competition or test that the characters want to succeed at in the end, with the relationships being side plots but not the major focus.

So, the part you’ve been waiting for. How to predict what is going to happen in a teen/high school drama.

1) No matter how much you want her not to, the main teen female will always choose the main male lead. You can tell who is who due to the timing of their introduction. This is standard in most–if not all–television shows and is super easy to follow. The first female character introduced and focused on for any amount of time is the main female lead. The same goes for the male lead.

Like I’ve said previously, k-dramas are all about the love triangles. The second male lead may not be introduced for some time (possibly not even in the first episode), but be patient, he will show his face eventually, and you will know him when he does. He will also be given a rather large amount of focus, though second to the amount given to the main lead.

Try not to fall in love with this character too much, you’ll just be disappointed when he doesn’t end up with the lead female. (Speaking from experience? Me? No… Of course not…)

2) If the main character (the very first person introduced) is a girl, she will most likely be shown as ditsy, stupid, strange, bubbly, poor, innocent, arrogant, proud, and/or ignorant of insults. If the main character’s male, he will most likely be snobbish, smart, wealthy, well-dressed, egotistical, haughty, famous, and/or easily irritated with the female lead. (These can be reversed, the traits for the female being true for the male and vice versa, but that is rare).

3) The main plot usually revolves around a coincidental meeting that sets the two main leads against one another/ introduces them to one another in a way that will push them toward a united path. For example: many popular plots will have the slightly air-headed but proud lead female stand up to the male lead due to him being rude/unjust toward someone else. You will also see many plots where the main female lead has a secret obsession with the male lead that he finds out about in a public way (or via love letter). The gender roles in these can also be reversed (as in guy has obsession with girl, etc.)

4) If there is a competition/test the characters are working towards, their struggles in the middle will ultimately lead to their success in the end. The lead male and female will always get into college/pass the test/win the competition/etc. The side characters tend to end up happily, though they may not have passed the test, gotten into the college they wanted, or won the competition. There are always exceptions (I can name some right here), but these are rules based off what happens the majority of the time.

and 5) Teen and High School series love the let’s-take-a-peak-into-the-future-at-the-end-of-the-series wrap ups. In order to give you a glimpse of what these teens became of later in life, you will see the following: the two main leads are engaged or married, the girl may or may not be pregnant/has had kids already, the third wheel in the love untriangle is doing just find and is quite a success on their own. He/she may even have a new love interest. Congrats for them not being lonely forever! The bad guys are gone and everyone is happy as a unicorn on a skittles rainbow.

High school and Teen K-dramas are all about the happy ending, thus, they are one of the easiest of the genres to predict. Because the characters are all very close in their personalities and the plot lines tends to start and end in the same places (with the middle changing here and there based on each individual show) it isn’t too difficult to figure out how our characters are going to end up.

Now go forth and use this newly acquired (and for the most part useless) knowledge of yours to be the coolest psychic you know!

Mel