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Many viewers know this disappointment. The second series of your favorite TV show premieres online, and optimism runs high. The debut season ended flawlessly: narrative threads were dangled enticingly, and a key figure faced a shocking fate – or did they?. After the season wrapped, you delved into fan discussions with dedicated fans to find some Easter egg clues illuminating what would happen next.

And then season two’s premiere is a damp squib. It feels like the entire writers’ room has been fired and replaced by artificial intelligence. In episode two, your favorite cast member has done something that viewers recognize as jarringly uncharacteristic. Halfway through the season, it becomes obvious the creators forgot around the storylines aggressively signposted in season one. By the lackluster conclusion, you long for an earlier termination.

The Pitfall of Too Many Seasons

Wishing for cancellation can only be retrospective; viewers usually oppose premature cancellations. Consider Kaos, an amusing Greek myth parody featuring Jeff Goldblum, axed by Netflix because of weak audience numbers. However, supporters might find comfort knowing their enjoyment of the series won’t have been muddied by a sophomore slump.

Considering the thriller Yellowjackets, I currently desire it was a one-season story. Season one had a creatively abundant premise, and every episode hit the right marks. A 1996 plane crash strands a female soccer team in wilderness. Skilled performers (featuring Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) played the characters across timelines. There were multiple award nominations, producers originally mapped out a five-season arc to tell the story in necessary detail. However, a season four finale was just confirmed. And as a fan, I let out a sigh of relief.

Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp in the forthcoming fifth season of Stranger Things.

Plot twists have diluted the essence. Rather than leading with the girls’ return home, and their coping with awful experiences, we were taken in directions that bloated the original premise. This involved a wearying pattern of highlighting added personalities (such as Shauna’s two-dimensional daughter Callie) with minimal impact on the main narrative. It’s frustrating, and watching a beloved program become tedious is sad.

A Growing Trend

But it’s not only Yellowjackets. Shows such as Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things no longer surprise audiences, and fallen headfirst into expected or comfortable cliches. Occasionally, series should end on a high note.

Indeed, pleasures exist in single-season stories. Looking at Sharp Objects, I May Destroy You, and Adolescence, writers understand when narratives find completion. Yet the spell breaks for programs including Big Little Lies, originally a limited series, come back for more and more with diminishing returns. Maybe Adolescence's creators hesitated about continuing.

The Ideal Model

I wish Yellowjackets could have been a one-and-done series, living rent-free in our imaginations, mysteries intact. The best program I've seen succeeded this way. The classic teen series, the ideal adolescent show, lasted for only one season yet felt epic in scale: its characters were difficult and contradictory, the visuals were beautifully seasonal, and the conversations avoided cliched adolescent writing. The ending left questions unanswered, but this reflects truth appropriately of never having real, definitive answers to the open-ended questions from your teenage years. After 18 perfect episodes (and one dodgy one), I mourned its end and drafted follow-up stories to resolve lingering mysteries. Though stored on outdated technology, it shows how series resonate profoundly.

The Unique Connection

If writers recall the sacred audience-series connection, more shows can end gracefully.

• Priya Elan writes about the arts, music and fashion.