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It's an all-too-familiar feeling. The follow-up season of your top TV show drops on your platform, and you're brimming with anticipation. Season one ended with such precision: narrative threads were dangled enticingly, and a protagonist met a mysterious end – or so it seemed. During the hiatus, you were perusing Reddit threads with fellow enthusiasts to decode subtle references pointing toward upcoming twists.

Unfortunately, the return episode disappoints. The writing appears robotic and uninspired. By the next installment, a key performer makes a choice that fans unanimously declare inconsistent. Halfway through the season, it becomes obvious the creators forgot concerning narrative arcs clearly established previously. As the underwhelming ending arrives, you privately hope it had ended sooner.

The Curse of Overextension

Wishing for cancellation can only be retrospective; audiences frequently rally against early axings. Consider Kaos, a delightfully satirical take on Greek mythology featuring Jeff Goldblum, axed by Netflix because of weak audience numbers. Yet audiences can console themselves that their enjoyment of the series won’t have been muddied by a sophomore slump.

Looking back at the horror-mystery show Yellowjackets, I prefer it had remained a self-contained narrative. Season one had a creatively abundant premise, and its 10 episodes were note-perfect. In 1996, a plane carrying an all-girl high school football team crashes in the middle of nowhere. Top-notch cast members (including Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) portrayed the team then and now. Numerous awards recognition occurred, producers originally mapped out a five-season arc to tell the story in necessary detail. Recently, news broke of a season four conclusion. This news brought me relief.

The Stranger Things cast returns for season five.

The show has made narrative choices that have undermined its heart. Rather than leading with the girls’ return home, and their struggle with traumatic memories, the story grew padded and excessive. A fatiguing tendency emerged of highlighting added personalities (such as Shauna’s two-dimensional daughter Callie) who added little to the overarching plot. It’s frustrating, and watching a beloved program become tedious is sad.

A Common Phenomenon

Yet this issue extends beyond Yellowjackets. Shows such as Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things have lost the shock of the new, and embraced predictable tropes. Sometimes shows need to quit when they are ahead.

The thing is, there are joys to be had in a limited, “one-and-done” series. Considering Sharp Objects, I May Destroy You, and Adolescence, writers understand when narratives find completion. Yet the spell breaks for programs including Big Little Lies, initially a one-season story, come back for more and more with diminishing returns. Hopefully, Adolescence’s producers have thought twice about that rumoured season two.

The Perfect Example

I desired Yellowjackets as a single-season show, occupying our minds endlessly, mysteries intact. My top series ever followed this pattern. This beloved 90s drama, the perfect 90s teen dramedy, concluded after a single run but achieved film-like breadth: the roles were challenging and multifaceted, the visuals were beautifully seasonal, and the dialogue was untethered from the normal “teen speak written by a 35-year-old” trope. The conclusion provided no neat resolution, yet this mirrors real life accurately of never having real, definitive answers to the open-ended questions from your teenage years. After 18 great episodes (and one mediocre), I felt devastated and created my own continuation to address unfinished business. Despite existing on obsolete equipment, it demonstrates television's powerful connection.

The Sacred Bond

If writers recall the sacred audience-series connection, more series can conclude appropriately.

• This writer writes about the arts, music and fashion.