Photo: TikTok / The WB
"I'm watching Buffy."
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Mar 10, 2023
A man named Joey was going down memory lane when he remembered what is probably the most insane story you’ve ever heard about the time he and his family had gotten stuck inside of a storm shelter — want to take a guess at who saved them?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer did. In a move that could likely spawn a spin-off series dubbed “Buffy the Tornado Slayer,” the TV show from the late 90s/early 00s starring Sarah Michelle Gellar saved one family’s life by airing the series finale during a tornado.
Joey’s dad was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer when they got stuck inside the storm cellar.
As incredulous as it sounds, Buffy the Vampire Slayer likely saved all of their lives all because Joey’s dad refused to go into the storm shelter in order to watch the series finale.
In order to let the man tell the story himself, Joey moseyed on over to his father, phone in tow, and recorded a TikTok video allowing his dad to explain what happened on that fateful night.
“Hey dad, do you remember that time Buffy the Vampire Slayer saved all of our lives?” he asks his father, who says “yeah.” “Tell us how that happened.”
“Well, the season’s finale— or, series’s finale was coming on and I wasn’t gonna miss it. Sirens are going off, f—king tornado, blah blah blah,” he explains, nonchalantly. “Your mama was so scared so she got all of you kids, all f—king neighbors go down in the storm cellar.”
“So I sit there and I said f—k it I’m watching Buffy.”
Joey’s father explains it like it’s the most normal thing in the world. I mean really, who would miss the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer over a silly little tornado?
While they were off overreacting to some gusts of wind, the man of the family stayed inside and watched the finale.
“So I watch Buffy, and after about two or three hours later — after Angel goes off and all that kind of bulls—t,” he says, referring to the actual Buffy spin-off series, “I’m looking for y’all, and y’all are nowhere around.”
He reveals that when he finally went out back to look at the storm cellar, they had been trapped by a “big old oak tree” that had fallen over, blocking off their only exit.
“So if I was inside that f—king cellar with y’all, we would have all been dead,” he finished his story. Joey then comes back into the frame and says “so, literally, we all owe our life to Sarah Michelle Gellar. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for all that you do.”
“Exactamundo,” says Joey’s father.
Joey’s story time went viral, receiving nearly 2 million views in nine days since it was posted on March 1, 2023.
Joey’s Buffy tornado story went so viral, that Sarah Michelle Gellar herself responded.
A day later, Gellar reposted the TikTok on her Instagram account to her 4.3 million followers along with the caption “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Well, you did save the world… a lot,” one of the comments on her post read, referring to her character in the show.
“‘F--k it I'm watching Buffy’ is my life motto,” another person joked, as a third coined “Buffy the Tornado Slayer.”
There were petitions to rename the storm shelter to “Sarah Michelle Cellar,” which Joey himself laughed at. In response to another man calling his father awesome, Joey said “He woulda rather died that night than miss Buffy,” as I’m sure the rest of us would have too.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.