Inca Mummy Girl

Inca Mummy Girl
Written by
Directed

Original Airdate: October 1997

Plot: Xander falls head over heels for Buffy's exchange student, Impata. However, Impata may not be all that she seems... Review

Warning: If you've been laying dead in a coffin for the past several thousand years, and have missed seeing "Inca Mummy Girl," I suggest you turn back now. Major spoilers are ahead....

In short: Good, but not great.

There's an old saying--the worst day fishing is better than the best day working. I feel that saying could be taken and applied to this episode, with a bit of rewording. A mediocre episode of Buffy is better than 95 percent of the stuff that passes as entertainment on TV today.

That's pretty much how I feel about Inca Mummy Girl.

Don't get me wrong--there was a lot of nice stuff going on here. In the first half of the show, we had a character driven piece that really was nicely done and worked quite well. I loved seeing the Willow/Xander relationship dance in the story and the whole discussion of "lips," etc. with Buffy. This has been one of the more interesting and slowly emerging plotlines this year and it's nice to see some carryover from episode to episode. It's not just brought up once and then dropped unceremoniosly. I have to thank Joss and company for that.

And for the great dialogue. Man, have the writers on this show got an ear for it. I loved the "blah, blah, blah, I'm so stuff. Give me a scone." "It's likes you know me." dialogue from Buffy and Giles--easily the funniest moment in the show, though there were quite a few funny moments. (I also loved Xander's showing Impata the wonders of a Twinkee. Truly inspired).

Also coming out of that conversation was a really great storyline about how being the Slayer really affects Buffy having a normal life. I see this as a bit of the fallout from "When She Was Bad" still going on. Buffy has had the major trauma of being dead, killing the Master, and dealing with her anger toward the whole situation. Here she is forced to miss a dance and give up part of normal life. While the implications aren't as strongly felt as they were in WSWB, they are felt a bit here. You really get the sense of what Buffy has had to give up in order to be chosen one. I wonder what other kinds of sacrifices will be placed upon her before the end of the season. It will be interesting to see what Joss and company come up with in the next several weeks.

That all said, I've got to say that I didn't enjoy the monster of the week (tm) plotline. Sorry, but after School Hard last week and the strong introduction of Spike and Dru, Impata paled by comparison. Yes, there were some tense moments, but overall this plotline failed to impress me. I guess part of it was that we all knew Impata was the mummy from the beginning, thus draining a lot of tension out of the story. At least for me. I guess that part of is that we've had two weeks in a row where the villain is known to the audience and showcased on the show. But last week Spike was stronger. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about Spike I liked better, other than his attitude and his reaction to Sunnydale, Angel, etc., but I found him a far more appealing villain that Impata. That may have something to do with the fact that Impata is a one off villain, whereas Spike has to be given a bit more background since it looks like we are going to see more of him this season.

Not that there weren't parts of this I didn't like. The parallel structure of what Impata had to give up and what Buffy has to give up were intersting. But not overly rivetting.

I did like that Xander, for once, gets the girl. OK, sure she wants to suck the life out of him, but you know, at least she liked him. I think there was a tragic element in here that Impata just wanted to find love and be a "normal" teenager like Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang, but it never quite worked out for her. She was a bit sympathetic toward the end, but not so much that I really felt any sympthathy for her.

Part of the problem for me may be that the actress who played Impata seemd to be pretty much phoning in her performance. I think part of the appeal of Buffy to me is the strength of the acting by all the principle characters week in and week out. So, Impata's week performance rang out like an alarm bell even more to me. Maybe it's just me. I don't know.

And the resolution just never grabbed me. You knew from the minute they figured out they had to put the seal back together to trap Impata that it would get shattered. It was a standard ending to a standard story and it never really worked out that well for me. I've got to admit that I'm not big fan of Some Assembly Required, but it was slightly better than this one, but not by much.

But, if this is the worst that Buffy does all year, it will still be head and shoulders above a lot of the other televison shows out there today.

So, I guess that about wraps it up for now, except for a few small things....

--Loved Willow's costume as the eskimo. Great fun.

--Also, who is the guy in the band? I liked him. I assume we will see more of him in the upcoming weeks.

--Cordy seems very strangely drawn this year. At some points she seems to be in with the Scooby gang, while at others she has reverted back to her season one self. Will this lead somewhere or were there just some holdover scripts from last year that didn't take into consideration her character growth?

Well, that's about it for now. As I said, not a strong episode, but still, at times, an enjoyable hour of television.

Final Rating: 6.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: A frat party gone wrong...

"Blah, blah, blah...I'm so stuffy, give me a scone."

It's like you know me....">