TV Rewind: Why Buffy the Vampire Slayer Is the Perfect Quarantine Watch
The Scooby Gang always makes for good company.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our TV Rewind column! The Paste writers are diving into the streaming catalogue to discuss some of our favorite classic series as well as great shows we’re watching for the first time. Come relive your TV past with us, or discover what should be your next binge watch below:
Chosen One narratives may be a dime a dozen, but rarely are they executed as well as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This particular destined teen, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar, impeccable), is the once-in-a-generation Slayer, whose sole purpose is to quell the forces of darkness. And while, yes, the show is about demons being sent straight back to Hell with one of Buffy’s high kicks, it’s also about her attempting to lead a life of teenage normalcy with her best friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon).
Buffy Summers’ odd existence proves startlingly similar to our current one, since she deals daily with circumstances both mundane and extraordinary. Her inner life reflects ours as well; the Slayer by definition needs to be resilient, but she doesn’t want to lose her emotional vulnerability. Likewise, looking at the world right now, we’re bound to be overwhelmed when considering the death toll of the coronavirus and its larger societal impacts, from rising unemployment to the bleak horror of Zoom funerals. Compartmentalization is partly necessary for our own survival. However, in guarding ourselves, we also risk putting up so many walls that we fail to grieve properly, losing touch with our own humanity. Buffy is the perfect combo of escapism (there’s a whole lot to love between the ‘90s fashion sense and demonic predicaments) and emotional lessons that can sustain us during quarantine.
In the pilot, highschool sophomore Buffy plainly tells her Watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head, creating unrealistic expectations for librarians everywhere), that she is retired from dusting vamps, but soon finds herself hurtled back towards her destiny when bloodsuckers attack Sunnydale High students. This push and pull between wanting a life of normalcy and her duty as the Slayer dogs Buffy throughout the series.
The latter also proves more than just an obligation to her birthright, but to Buffy’s own conscience; fellow Slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku) in Season 3 proves that simply being the Chosen One doesn’t mean that your moral compass is always pointed in the right direction. Time and time again, Buffy tries to lead an ordinary life even in the smallest ways, like by joining the cheerleading squad or dating the seemingly benign Midwesterner Riley Finn (Marc Blucas). She’s always thwarted, though, by the fact that life on the Hellmouth isn’t ever going to be as hunky-dory as she’d like it to be. Even in the series finale, Buffy reiterates her inner conflict, telling an army of potential Slayers, “I hate that there’s evil and that I was chosen to fight it. I wish a whole lot of the time that I hadn’t been … This isn’t about wishes. This is about choices.”