Antagonist that only appears in one episode of a work of fiction
This article is about antagonists in episodic fiction. For the 1998 song "Freak of the Week", see
Marvelous 3. For the tabletop role-playing game, see
Monster of the Week.
"Villain of the week" (or, depending on genre, "monster of the week", "freak of the week", "alien of the week", or "dinosaur of the week") is an
antagonist that only appears in one
episode of a multi-episode work of fiction, commonly British, American, and Japanese genre-based
television series. As many shows of this type air episodes weekly at a rate of ten to twenty new episodes per year, there is often a new antagonist in the plot of each week's episode. The main characters usually confront and vanquish these characters, often never encountering them again.
In some cases, these villains return reformed in later episodes, becoming invaluable allies or gaining a larger role in the story.
"Villain of the week" plotlines are attractive to
syndicators, as it means that episodes can be
rerun in any order and do not need to be aired in sequence as
serials with continuing storylines do.
Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press.
ISBN9781611720181.