I feel like there MIGHT have been some pressure from Netflix to make it more binge-able, but honestly I don't know.  It's a thing that happens quite a bit with streaming services, possibly the confidence in knowing that the audience can watch another episode right off the bat.  But it leads to less fulfilling individual episodes.  It's sort of like how British shows without commercial breaks (or HBO type shows) don't build in cliffhangers to make you stick around during the commercials, they don't need to, and this one level above that.

The show itself they can film out of sequence, based on the actor's schedules and location availability which makes production a bit easier, they can film the whole thing like one big movie.  Which I suppose leads to thinking of the thing as one big movie that can be broken down into chunks.  And I suppose that making those chunks more complex by making them complete is far more work than we suspect.  I dunno.

I am curious how often people re-watch/re-bunge shows of this nature, as opposed to more episodic series.  What brings me back to shows like AD, Star Trek, etc is wanting to see "the episode where so-and-so happens" and then falling into the trap.  Thinking about a show as a 13-episode movie is more daunting, less casual.  It's a commitment, even if it's a light show.