Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Inca Mummy Girl

Inca Mummy Girl
Season 2, Episode 4
Airdate	October 6, 1997
Production Number	5V04
Written by	Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkemeyer
Directed by	Ellen S. Pressman
← 2x03 School Hard	2x05 → Reptile Boy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Two

Inca Mummy Girl is the fourth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the sixteenth episode overall. During a field trip to the museum, a troublemaking student accidentally releases a mummy by breaking its curse.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel) (credit only)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Ara Celi (Ampata Gutierrez)

and Seth Green (Oz)

Co-Starring: Jason Hall (Devon), Hendrik Rosvall (Sven), Joey Crawford (Rodney), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Kristen Winnicki (Gwen), Gil Birmingham (Peru Man), Samuel Jacobs (Peruvian Boy)

Uncredited: Bernard White (Tour Guide)

Plot Overview

An Incan mummy is released and assumes the identity of the foreign exchange student living with the Summers. Xander is immediately smitten with her, and while the two begin a loving relationship, he and the others are unaware that she must drain the life force from others to remain alive.

Notes

Monster of the Week

This episode puts a spin on the traditional Mummy myth, keeping in with the theme of this season exploring the classic Universal movie monsters, popularly including Dracula (i.e. vampires), Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy and the Werewolf of London. However, this episode (like the others) take certain liberties with the traditional story to contemporize it.

Instead of being an Egyptian priest, the mummy in this episode is an Incan princess who was deemed to be "the chosen one" to save her people from the underworld. She was offered as a sacrifice and killed so that the people would be safe from the demons. Her story is strangely familiar to Buffy's own story as the slayer, which she notes. Also somewhat like the Slayer, "Ampata" has a bodyguard to keep her in the game of preventing the world from descending into supernatural chaos.

Because "Ampata" is dead, she must absorb the life force of others, typically men although she threatens to drain Willow, in order to remain youthful. Considering that after two days, she kills three people and still starts to decay again, she apparently must drain people very frequently to sustain life. Much like Frankenstein's monster, who appeared in the second episode of this season, "Ampata" was not evil, but she was amoral.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Rodney	Mummy	Life Drained	Museum
2	Ampata	Mummy	Life Drained	Bus Station
3	Bodyguard	Mummy	Life Drained	Girl's Restroom
4	Ampata	Buffy	Shattered	Museum

Music

• Four Star Mary - "Fate"

• Four Star Mary - "Shadows"

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Xander and Willow: Willow seems to accept that she'll never be more to Xander than just a friend and suggests that maybe she should just move on. That opportunity to move on arises when Oz comes on the scene, but he doesn't quite make contact with her.

Referbacks

• 1x06 - Teacher's Pet: When Ampata agrees to go to the dance with Xander, he asks if she's actually a praying mantis. Xander previous fell in love with his substitute biology teacher due to her use of pheromones on him. She turned out to be a giant demon praying mantis who forced teenage boys to mate with her before devouring them.

Xander: You're not a praying mantis?

• 1x13 - Prophecy Girl: Buffy discovered the truth about the prophecy while Giles and Angel were talking in the library. According to the Pergamum Codex, it was fated that Buffy would die by the hands of The Master. This turned out to be true, although prophecies never quite tell the entire story and she wound up becoming resurrected.

Trivia

The Show

• MIA: David Boreanaz, though credited, does not appear in this episode.

• First Appearances: Two recurring characters make their first appearances in this episode. Although he isn't given a name in the context of the episode, Danny Strong plays a student named Jonathan who very nearly becomes Ampata's victim at the dance. More importantly, this episode is the first appearance of Oz, the guitar player for Dingoes Ate My Baby (who make their first appearance as well). He's set up briefly as a potential love interest for Willow.

Behind the Scenes

• International: Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been dubbed into many different languages and the title translated for each different international version. Some international translations of this episode's title are:
  • French: "La Momie Inca" ("The Inca Mummy")
  • Italian: "La Prescelta" ("The Chosen One")
  • German: "Das Geheimnis der Mumie" ("The Secret of the Mummy")
  • Japanese: "インカ帝国のミイラ王女" ("Inka-Teikoku no Mīra Ōjo" - "The Mummy Princess of the Incan Empire")

Memorable Moments

• Sven reveals to Gwen that his silent treatment towards Cordelia is spawned from passive-aggressive resentment and not a borderline infantile lack of knowledge of basic English. He mocks her by asking if she's from this country.

Goofs

• When Ampata tries to drain Xander's life, her face begins to decay, but when it cuts to a shot from the side, you can see that her face is still normal.

Quotes

• Xander: Hold on a sec. So, this person who's living with you for two weeks is a man? With man parts? This is a terrible idea.

Willow: What about the beautiful melding of two cultures?

Xander: There's no melding, okay? He better keep his parts to himself.

• Xander: Oh, that's Rodney Munson. He's God's gift to the belle curve. What he lacks in smarts, he makes up in lack of smarts.

Willow: You just don't like him 'cause of that time he beat you up everyday for five years.

Xander: Yeah, I'm irrational that way.

• Buffy: I wasn't gonna use violence. I don't always use violence. Do I?

Xander: The important thing is you believe that.

• Buffy: (to Giles) Oh! I know this one! Slaying entails certain sacrifices, blah, blah, bity blah, I'm so stuffy, give me a scone.

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

• Willow: So, Ampata, you're a girl.

Ampata: Yes. For many years now.

• Ampata: You are strange.

Xander: Girls always tell me that. Right before they run away.

Ampata: I like it.

Xander: I like you like it. Please, don't learn from my English.

• Buffy: (urging Giles to speed up in his car) Come on! Can't you put your foot down?

Giles: It is down.

Buffy: One of these days you're gonna have to get a grownup car.