You see it a lot when media (like dt. lol.) does a lot of self-referential wink wink nudge nudge dialogue and plotlines, but there's also a tendency for writers to include things seemingly exclusively because they think a fandom will have questions about it. It's very strange to me!

This is such a good summary of something I've been noticing a lot in fiction of all kinds lately where it constantly feels like people are writing as if it were a conversation with an audience rather than than a story they're trying to tell

happy birthday!! hope its a good one :>