Big Bad

[7] The term was originally used in the episode "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", in which Buffy Summers describes the newly soulless Angel as "the big, bad thing in the dark".

David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that Joss Whedon, creator of the series, made the model for the Golden Age of television: Years before streaming TV existed, Whedon helped create the bingeable serial drama—one that endeavored to make every episode a special event, without taking the audience's eyes off the larger story being woven.

In basic terms, he did this by making sure every season had a "big bad": a villain or antihero with larger machinations developing in the background of every episode, twinned to our hero Buffy and her resolute band of friends in some magical way.

Every season would build to an action-packed climax with sacrifices made and lessons learned, but along the way, Buffy would face off against minions of the "big bad", problems of her own making, and various other monsters of the week amid whirlwinds of teen angst.

[11][12] In the Arrowverse, after 8 years and 20 collective seasons, the series Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow had 22 Big Bads, which TVLine ranked based on "Compelling Backstory, Fearsome Appearance, Powers/Skills, Utter Ruthlessness, Eeeevilness of Agenda, Despicable Damage Done".

[14] He also wrote that for series 11, "The main villain is regular old human cruelty and apathy to suffering", adding this had some similarity to Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6's Big Bad, “life.”[15] But Lacy Baugher wrote on Syfy Wire that the show can have the smaller personal, emotional stories, and doesn't need the "big, sweeping arcs and grand monsters".