If anyone else is wondering as to why there's so much human drama written in what should otherwise probably have been a normal retrospective, it's (at least by my judgment) to increase the likelihood that the article gets optioned for a film or tv series, etc.
This isn't a first for Andy Greenberg, either. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5200697/
(My comment isn't critical of his writing; it's merely an effort at explaining it.)