Inca Mummy Girl

"Inca Mummy Girl"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
The mummy, Ampata, before being awoken
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 4
Directed by	Ellen S. Pressman
Written by	Matt Kiene Joe Reinkemeyer
Production code	5V04
Original air date	October 6, 1997
Guest actors
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers Ara Celi as Ampata Gutierrez Seth Green as Oz Jason Hall as Devon MacLeish Henrik Rosvall as Sven Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson

"Inca Mummy Girl" is episode four of season two of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was written by former series story editors Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer (penning their second and final script for the show) and directed by Ellen S. Pressman, inspired by the story of Momia Juanita, a real mummy discovered on the extinct volcano Ampato near Arequipa, Peru, in 1995.^[1] The narrative revolves around a "cultural exchange" event at Sunnydale High, involving a museum exhibit, a dance, and foreign exchange students, two of whom stay with Buffy and Cordelia. After a class troublemaker is reported missing after the museum trip, the Scooby Gang investigates and finds the Incan mummy from the exhibit gone and the missing student mummified in her place. Meanwhile, Buffy must hide her identity as the Slayer and the mummy investigation from her exchange student, Ampata, who has a secret of her own.

Plot

To prepare for Sunnydale High's cultural exchange program, Buffy visits an Incan exhibit with her schoolmates. She is paired with an exchange student with whom her mom signed her up. Xander becomes jealous when he learns that she will room with a guy.

The students learn that the mummy in the museum is one of a beautiful Incan princess, sacrificed by her people to save them from destruction. Willow and Buffy express remorse for the princess; dying before she could really live her life. After everyone leaves the museum, a class clown breaks the seal on the mummy while trying to steal it. The princess wakes up, for the curse is broken, and pulls the unfortunate student into her coffin. She mummifies him by a kiss on the lips. When the Scoobies rush to the museum, they encounter a sword-wielding guard and the remains of the missing student.

Buffy's exchange student arrives at the bus station, and the mummy girl sucks out his life, too. The 500-year-old becomes a beautiful teenager, and poses as "Ampata," the boy who was supposed to stay with Buffy (everyone simply assumes that the information was wrong on her gender). Xander is smitten with her, and the two begin a relationship. Giles asks "Ampata" to decipher the seal from her tomb, and she explains (reluctantly) that it describes a girl chosen to die to save her people, and a bodyguard who will keep her from straying from that path. She also tells Giles to destroy the seal completely; apparently it being rebuilt will end Ampata's life. This bodyguard appears again and again, trying to stop Ampata, until she finally manages to use her kiss on him in the bathroom, sucking out his life to keep herself from dying.

Buffy and Ampata bond over the tale of the Inca Princess, Ampata stating that the princess was forced into her "destiny" by her people, as they claimed she was the only girl of her generation who could save them; Buffy miserably notes that this parallels her own life. Xander asks Ampata to the dance to enliven her; she gladly accepts. Willow is downtrodden to find her crush with another girl when the guitarist (Oz) at the Bronze notices her. Meanwhile, Buffy and Giles open Ampata's trunk and discover the real Ampata's body. Giles tries to piece together the seal while Buffy tries to save Xander from Ampata's deadly kiss. But Ampata feels too much for Xander and leaves for the museum. She tries to stop Giles from putting the seal back together. Buffy saves Giles, then Ampata starts to deteriorate as she tries to feed off Willow. Xander shows up and insists that if she must feed on anyone, it should be him; despite Ampata's feelings for him, she is quickly deteriorating back into a mummy, and is willing to kill him to remain alive. Buffy shows up to fight her, saving Xander, and in the battle, she weakens to the point of returning to her dead form.

Acting

Starring

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz as Angel (credited but does not appear)
Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

Co-starring

Continuity

Xander asks, "You're not a praying mantis, are you?" Ms. French, Xander's crush in "Teachers Pet," turned out to be a giant She-Mantis.
This is the only episode of the second or third seasons from which Angel is absent.
This is one of only eight episodes not to feature at least one vampire, the others being "Witch", "The Pack", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Living Conditions", "Fear, Itself" and "Beer Bad".
Along with "Witch", "The Puppet Show" and "Nightmares", this is one of only four Buffyverse episodes in which Cordelia appears but Angel does not.

Arc significance

This episode features the first appearance of Devon and Oz. Devon will go on to appear and be mentioned in a number of episodes, while Oz will go on to be a central character and member of the Scooby Gang. This is also the first appearance of Oz and Devon’s band, Dingoes Ate My Baby.
This episode marks the first of several times Oz will spot Willow, before finally meeting her in What's My Line, Part 1. In this episode, through the crowd Oz spots Willow in her Eskimo outfit and is obviously smitten.
This episode marks the first notable appearance of Jonathan Levinson, a minor character who repeatedly pops up in Seasons Two, Three, Four, Six and Seven. In the early seasons, Jonathan often escapes near death situations through blind luck. In Season Six, he is one member of The Trio, with Warren Mears and Andrew Wells, who have plans to take over Sunnydale.

Reception

"Inca Mummy Girl" had an audience of 3.2 million households.^[2]

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Inca Mummy Girl

External links

"Inca Mummy Girl" at the Internet Movie Database
"Inca Mummy Girl" at TV.com

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Canon Index Joss Whedon Awards

Series	Film Television Episodes Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Comics Season Eight Nine Ten

Main characters	Buffy Xander Willow Cordelia Giles Angel Oz Spike Riley Anya Dawn Tara

Recurring characters	Amy Andrew Darla Faith Harmony Jenny Jonathan Joyce Kennedy Snyder Wesley Wood

Antagonists	The Master Angelus Drusilla The Mayor Adam Prof. Walsh Glory The Trio Warren Caleb Turok-Han The First

Spin-offs	Angel Fray Tales of the Slayers Tales of the Vampires Buffy the Animated Series

Expanded universe	Novels Undeveloped productions Video games

Auxiliary	Academia Card game Home video Guidebooks In popular culture Magazines Music Role-playing games

Universe	Big Bads Demons Hellmouth Main characters Minor characters Monsters Old Ones Scooby Gang Slayers Sunnydale Vampire Watcher Werewolf Witch

Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes

Season 1	"Welcome to the Hellmouth" "The Harvest" "Witch" "Teacher's Pet" "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" "The Pack" "Angel" "I, Robot... You, Jane" "The Puppet Show" "Nightmares" "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" "Prophecy Girl"

Season 2	"When She Was Bad" "Some Assembly Required" "School Hard" "Inca Mummy Girl" "Reptile Boy" "Halloween" "Lie to Me" "The Dark Age" "What's My Line, Parts One and Two" "Ted" "Bad Eggs" "Surprise" "Innocence" "Phases" "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" "Passion" "Killed by Death" "I Only Have Eyes for You" "Go Fish" "Becoming, Parts One and Two"

Season 3	"Anne" "Dead Man's Party" "Faith, Hope & Trick" "Beauty and the Beasts" "Homecoming" "Band Candy" "Revelations" "Lovers Walk" "The Wish" "Amends" "Gingerbread" "Helpless" "The Zeppo" "Bad Girls" "Consequences" "Doppelgangland" "Enemies" "Earshot" "Choices" "The Prom" "Graduation Day, Parts One and Two"

Season 4	"The Freshman" "Living Conditions" "The Harsh Light of Day" "Fear, Itself" "Beer Bad" "Wild at Heart" "The Initiative" "Pangs" "Something Blue" "Hush" "Doomed" "A New Man" "The I in Team" "Goodbye Iowa" "This Year's Girl" "Who Are You" "Superstar" "Where the Wild Things Are" "New Moon Rising" "The Yoko Factor" "Primeval" "Restless"

Season 5	"Buffy vs. Dracula" "Real Me" "The Replacement" "Out of My Mind" "No Place Like Home" "Family" "Fool for Love" "Shadow" "Listening to Fear" "Into the Woods" "Triangle" "Checkpoint" "Blood Ties" "Crush" "I Was Made to Love You" "The Body" "Forever" "Intervention" "Tough Love" "Spiral" "The Weight of the World" "The Gift"

Season 6	"Bargaining, Parts One and Two" "After Life" "Flooded" "Life Serial" "All the Way" "Once More, with Feeling" "Tabula Rasa" "Smashed" "Wrecked" "Gone" "Doublemeat Palace" "Dead Things" "Older and Far Away" "As You Were" "Hell's Bells" "Normal Again" "Entropy" "Seeing Red" "Villains" "Two to Go" "Grave"

Season 7	"Lessons" "Beneath You" "Same Time, Same Place" "Help" "Selfless" "Him" "Conversations with Dead People" "Sleeper" "Never Leave Me" "Bring on the Night" "Showtime" "Potential" "The Killer in Me" "First Date" "Get It Done" "Storyteller" "Lies My Parents Told Me" "Dirty Girls" "Empty Places" "Touched" "End of Days" "Chosen"

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.