10 TV Shows That Suffered A Sophomore Slump
7. The Handmaid's Tale
Like 13 Reasons Why, The Handmaid's Tale's first season was based on a novel and finished in line with that novel's story, meaning that the second season was all new. And like 13 Reasons Why, there's an argument to be made that The Handmaid's Tale never really needed a second season.
One of the main problems with season two is its ramped-up violence. The timely feminist themes of the first season were strong enough to counterbalance its harsher moments, but the second season is almost gratuitous in its cruelty, forcing June and her fellow handmaids into one miserable scenario after another.
Every moment of triumph is immediately displaced by something terrible and literally nothing ever seems to go right for the characters we care about. That's part of what makes the show unique and nobody is saying that the good guys have to win every time, but when June has so many good chances to escape and doesn't succeed in a single one of them, it feels more like the writers trying to stretch the story out than any kind of astute political commentary on misogynist culture.
Showrunner Bruce Miller has worryingly said he's planned out enough of a story for ten whole seasons, so we'll have to wait and see where the show goes from here.