Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Inca Mummy Girl" Review (2x04)

Brief Synopsis: “While on a field trip to the local museum, one of the students breaks a ceramic seal in the coffin of an Incan mummy. The mummy rises and must consume the life-force of others in order to remain alive and retain her human appearance. She tries to fit in with the students at Sunnydale, and even starts to develop real feelings for Xander. But when Buffy, Willow, and Giles realise who and what she really is, they have to rescue Xander before he becomes the mummy’s next victim.”

"School Hard" (2x03) quick link here                                                                                               "Reptile Boy" (2x05) quick link here


Two quick notes before we get started...

1)    I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the text.
2)    If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



•    When I started the season two reviews, I mentioned that we have to wade through some shit before emerging in the midst of the sheer brilliance that is season two. Both “Inca Mummy Girl” and “Reptile Boy” are prime examples of what I mean by wading through some shit. Neither episode is very good. However, with that being said, “Inca Mummy Girl” does have a few redeeming features.
•    I’m going to be calling the mummy “fAmpata” (that’s fake Ampata) and the real Ampata “Ampata” during this review to avoid confusion.
•    While this episode isn’t very good, I do appreciate it. It is a story that needs to be told. Not necessarily the Incan Mummy aspect of the story, but the part where Xander has his first semi-relationship. fAmpata is the very first female that we’ve seen that Xander likes who likes him back...not enough to stop herself from trying to kill him ultimately, but she liked him nonetheless.
•    A random Sunnydale High student has been spotted and mentioned...£10 says he’s dead or a murderer within the first 10 minutes of the episode.
•    ...that didn’t take long. Where’s my £10? To be fair, it’s his own fault for breaking the seal. Dear students of Sunnydale High, you live on a Hellmouth! There is enough supernatural activity going on already! Don’t make it worse by being morons!
•    I was very impressed by the make-up and the realistic look of the mummy. How can they do the mummy so well and then do the worst costume ever in the next episode (the giant penis-looking Machida)?
•    Buffy: “Slaying entails certain sacrifices, blah, blah, bitty blah, I’m so stuffy, give me a scone.”
Giles: “It’s as if you know me.”

Ironically, Giles turns on the delicious scone in season three’s “The Prom”, when he makes reference to the fact that Wesley has the emotional maturity of a blueberry one.

•    Xander’s jealousy in this episode is ridiculously overboard. Buffy has already told you that she doesn’t like you in that way, Xander! GET OVER IT! That’s my one dislike of Xander in the entirety of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. During the first three seasons of the show, Xander makes many questionable decisions. To name a few, he hates Angel because Buffy has feelings for him, there’s the infamous “kick his ass” line, and the time he turned every female in Sunnydale (bar Cordelia) into his willing sex monkeys...I know he’s a teenager, but he’s so petty sometimes when it comes to any male ever going near Buffy (See “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date”, “Angel”, “Inca Mummy Girl”, “Reptile Boy”, “Lie To Me”, any many more for details). Why is Xander never held accountable for his actions?
•    Willow’s face going from so elated to so sad after hearing Xander tell Buffy about how Willow is his best friend, so she’s not the type of person whose lips he thinks about a lot, is heartbreaking. I’ve said it before, but Alyson’s facial expressions are the best on the show. One look can make you feel any emotion. I’m still angry that the entire cast didn’t win a billion Emmys.
•    I can tell you how many times you’ve used that “Let me translate that ancient seal for you” line Xander. Zero.
•    Don’t follow the creepy whispering voice coming from the shadows, Ampata! IT NEVER ENDS WELL!  Will these people never learn?! I’m starting to feel like they deserve to be turned into mummified corpses...
•    Ampata is a rather feminine sounding name, so I can see why none of the Scoobies bat an eyelid when a female steps out of the shadows.
•    fAmpata is quite the kisser. She made his eyes roll back into his head with that kiss!...what?...too soon?...

•    Devon! I love Devon more than is natural. He looks very “Grease” in the first scene he’s in. Devon is one of my favourite recurring characters from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, and I have no idea why. My only complaint about him is that I wish the show did more with his character. He doesn’t really do anything, ever, except sing for “Dingoes Ate My Baby” (which is still the greatest name for a band in history...and so realistic that a group of high school students would name their band something so ridiculous!).
•    Oz! So many characters get introduced at the beginning of season two. Spike, Oz, Devon, Jonathan, and Ethan Rayne to name a few. I adore Oz. He’s probably the most underrated character on Buffy. He constantly has me in hysterics. Here is the first example...
•    Oz: “It involves a feather boa and the theme to ‘A Summer Place’...I can’t discuss it.”
•    Okay, I will admit that Xander and fAmpata are very cute together. Part of me wishes that this was a two-part episode so that we could have seen their relationship a little more. I think that’s one of the biggest problems with this episode. It takes quite a while to get going, and when it finally does, it seems to end almost immediately!
•    Move on, Willow. Find a nice guy who’s worthy of you, and who likes you back. Perhaps a small, red-headed student who is soon to enjoy sniffing and chaining himself up more than most people.

•    fAmpata’s story is shocking. This aspect of fAmpata’s character is what makes the episode watchable. Firstly, you have the obvious parallels between Buffy and fAmpata’s lives. Like Buffy, fAmpata never had the chance of a normal life and was made to grow up far too quickly. She’s almost like a Slayer without the abilities...she even has a Watcher called a ‘Guardian’! Secondly, this gives fAmpata’s character some emotional depth. You suddenly find yourself rooting for her to survive because you feel sorry for her. I’ve always felt that the best villains are ones that you’re able to identify with. This episode does a great job of establishing her character in such a short amount of time. We already know her backstory and her motivations. Her motivations are that she wants the chance to lead a normal life, like she was never allowed to do when she was alive. I can’t blame her for that! Here’s an interesting thought...do you consider villains like fAmpata, Daryl Epps, or Billy Fordham evil? I can certainly empathise with all three of them. Ultimately, I think they are evil due to their final actions. All three have a choice at the end of their stories: to continue their evil ways or to die with morals (except Daryl, he wouldn’t have died). All three chose to kill.
•    This is the third episode that has the theme of loneliness out of the past six. I guess for most people the loneliest time of their lives is during their teenage years, so it makes sense for “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” to use loneliness as a recurring theme, as that was their target audience.
•    “Shadows” is my second favourite Dingoes Ate My Baby (Four Star Mary) song (the first being “Pain”, but we have to wait until “Bewitched, Bothered and bewildered” for that particular song). Beautiful song! I enjoy having a recurring band playing at The Bronze.
•    Willow looks so cute as an Eskimo!
•    Oz is instantly attracted to Willow. Before he’s even spoken to her. That’s so great to see. He’s completely mesmerised by her. Much like Tara is two and a half years later. Clearly Willow is just someone that people instantly fall for...I sense witchcraft.
•    Buffy: “Someday you’re gonna have to get a grown up car.”

3 years later, Giles gets a car that is “red, shiny, shaped like a penis”. 

•    Awww, remember the good ol’ school days of going to kiss someone, but they turn into a mummified corpse? Something we can all relate to, right?...
•    This episode also marks the first appearance of Jonathan! Jonathan, Oz, and Devon all debut in the same episode. Danny Strong originally auditioned for the role of Xander. He was also in the original unaired Buffy pilot (which did not have Alyson Hannigan playing Willow). I thought Jonathan was going to be a one-episode character (like so many of these Sunnydale High students), or at least disappear into the ether after Buffy graduated, but instead he remained a rather important part of the Buffyverse, which was really great to see play out.
•    I think that the Xander/fAmpata kissing scene was very well done. Is this Xander’s first kiss on the show? I think it is. Giving Buffy CPR in “Prophecy Girl” doesn’t count, regardless of how hard Xander tries to convince us that it does.
•    Xander trying to sacrifice himself to save Willow gives me so many feels that I could explode. Perhaps this is why I overlook so many of Xander’s stupid decisions and actions in the early years. To me, Xander’s nobility outweighs his stupid actions.
•    fAmpata decomposed VERY quickly. Unrealistically quickly after you see how slowly she decomposes during the rest of the episode.
•    The scene to close out the episode between Buffy and Xander is my favourite scene of “Inca Mummy Girl”. I love scenes where the group are so close! This scene gives me a flashback to Buffy in “When She Was Bad”, asking Xander if she ever thanked him for saving her life. I think in this scene she finally did (she didn’t actually say “thank you”, but she implied it). As far as cementing the friendships between Buffy, Xander, and Willow goes, this episode is high up on the list. Xander sacrifices his potential happiness with fAmpata in order to save Willow. He says that he’d rather die than lose Willow, and I cannot contain these feels anymore. I feel like Spike in “Chosen” when the light bursts out of him! Only instead of sunlight, it’s what I can only describe as a ‘nerdgasm’.

•    Buffy: “I remember when I heard the prophecy that I was going to die. I wasn’t exactly obsessed with doing the right thing.”
Xander: “But you did. You gave up your life.”
Buffy: “I had you to bring me back.”

As similar as Buffy and fAmpata’s circumstances were, the difference between the two was their actions. Buffy is selfless, fAmpata isn’t. Buffy constantly gives up aspects of her own life to save the world. Buffy dies to save Dawn. fAmpata chose herself and her own survival over her love for Xander when it came to a choice.

•    I think this episode worked overall because fAmpata wasn’t treated as just a monster-of-the-week. The show made a point of saying that fAmpata was treated unfairly when she was alive. She was a grey-area villain, and they always work well due to the emotional complexity of their situation. Holtz (from Angel season three) is the perfect example of this type of villain. Just like Buffy, all fAmpata wanted was an opportunity at a normal life. She also refused to kill Xander for a long time, so she deserves some credit. She genuinely loved Xander. It wasn’t an act. This episode is almost like a really disturbing, supernatural version of Romeo and Juliet.
•    My biggest frustration with this episode is that it leads to zero character development for Xander in the end. If Xander’s short-lived relationship with fAmpata made him grow up, I would appreciate this episode a lot more. However, that is not the case. Xander is still just as annoying around Buffy after this episode as he was before it. It takes leaving high school and struggling to find his place in the world for Xander starts to grow up finally.
•    As I’m sure you can see, this episode was definitely a mixed-bag for me. I loved the way fAmpata’s character was treated, and this episode did have some great scenes, but ultimately the episode fell short of being ‘good’.


Quote Of The Episode

Willow: “On the other hand, maybe Rodney just stepped out for a smoke.”

Xander: “For twenty-one hours?”

Willow: “It's addictive, you know.”

Giles:” We'll deal with that when we've ruled out evil curses.”

Buffy: “One day I'm gonna live in a town where evil curses are just generally ruled out without even saying.”

Charming Scooby exchanges are always welcome in Shangel’s household.




FINAL SCORE: 4/10

So what are your thoughts on "Inca Mummy Girl"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!