Programs Like Stranger Things and Yellowjackets Have Become Overstretched. I Strongly Prefer the Single-Season Program
It's an all-too-familiar feeling. Season two of your beloved TV show has just begun streaming, and you're brimming with anticipation. The debut season ended with such precision: future plotlines were teased tantalisingly, and a main character had – cliffhanger! – been offed (or had they?). After the season wrapped, you delved into fan discussions with dedicated fans to decode subtle references illuminating what would happen next.
Unfortunately, the return episode disappoints. It seems as if the creative team was swapped for algorithms. Cut to the second episode, a beloved actor's character acts in a way that viewers recognize as jarringly uncharacteristic. Halfway through the season, it’s clear that the showrunners have had collective amnesia around the storylines aggressively signposted in season one. And by the disappointing finale, you privately hope it had ended sooner.
The Pitfall of Overextension
Regretting a show's continuation is hindsight; most fans protest when their favorite shows are canned before they can get off the ground. Look at Kaos, an amusing Greek myth parody starring Jeff Goldblum, which Netflix dropped over poor ratings. Yet audiences can console themselves that the program avoided a disappointing second season.
Reflecting on 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. Excellent actors (with Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) portrayed the team then and now. There were multiple award nominations, creators confidently planned five seasons to tell the story in necessary detail. Recently, news broke of a season four conclusion. This news brought me relief.
Young actors prepare for Stranger Things' next chapter.
Story decisions have weakened the core. Rather than leading with the girls’ return home, and their struggle with traumatic memories, the narrative expanded unnecessarily. That included the show’s tiring habit of bringing in and focusing on new characters (such as Shauna’s two-dimensional daughter Callie) who added little to the overarching plot. It’s frustrating, and witnessing a great series decline into annoyance is disheartening.
A Growing Trend
However, Yellowjackets isn't alone. Shows such as Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things lack original impact, and fallen headfirst into expected or comfortable cliches. Occasionally, series should end on a high note.
Actually, benefits come from self-contained series. From Sharp Objects to I May Destroy You to Adolescence, writers understand when narratives find completion. But the game is over when shows such as Big Little Lies, originally a limited series, come back for more and more with diminishing returns. Maybe Adolescence's creators hesitated about continuing.
The Perfect Example
I wish Yellowjackets could have been a one-and-done series, occupying our minds endlessly, cliffhangers and all. My top series ever followed this pattern. The classic teen series, the perfect 90s teen dramedy, lasted for only one season but achieved film-like breadth: the personalities were complex and inconsistent, the filming captured a fall aesthetic, and the dialogue was untethered from the normal “teen speak written by a 35-year-old” trope. The conclusion provided no neat resolution, but this reflects truth appropriately of adolescent uncertainties remaining perpetual. After 18 perfect episodes (and one dodgy one), I was heartbroken and took to writing season two fan fiction myself to answer some of those questions. Though stored on outdated technology, but it speaks to how deeply TV shows can chime with us.
The Unique Connection
When producers honor the special viewer-program bond, more series can conclude appropriately.
- Priya Elan focuses on cultural topics.
