There’s a weird moment at the beginning of 'Inca Mummy Girl' that made me think I should backtrack a bit.
Joyce has chosen to house an exchange student for 2 weeks and Buffy is nonplussed.
The class is at the history museum and Cordelia asks Buffy:
"So how is YOURS."
I found this odd because because she ACTUALLY cared enough to ask.
I thought to myself:
“Since when does Cordelia talk to the Scoobies?”
Her active venom in 'Season 1',
“God, what is your childhood trauma!?!”
...has turned into a sort of passive disinterest.
I don’t think I’ve done enough to track that transition as it represents real character growth in Cordelia so let's trace the steps real quick.
It probably started in the INVISIBLE GIRL episode
...when Cordelia and Buffy broke the ice talking about being popular.
"You think I'm never lonely because I'm so cute and popular?"
And in 'Prophecy Girl', Cordy actually SAVES Ms. Calendar and Willow from a gang of vampires,
...and fights the good fight in the library against the puppet slime monster.
In 'When She Was Bad', Cordelia is the only person to call Buffy out on her attitude problem.
"Buffy!"
[That's my name don't wear it out]
"You're really campaigning for 'Bitch of the Year' aren't you?"
Which indicates an important depth of perception.
Much as she is struggling with her old alpha ways and resisting these new people in her life,
she KNOWS how important Buffy is to the world, and cares enough to step in and say something.
In 'School Hard', she’s actually carving stakes with the gang.
She still doesn’t filter her thoughts particularly well.
But it doesn’t matter. She’s THERE with them helping the good fight.
And in 'Some Assembly Required', after Xander saves her from the 'Weird Science' nerds and rides with her on the gurney through the fire to safety,
...she actually speaks to Xander and seems GENUINELY grateful for his support.
"I just wanted to thank you for saving my life."
--"Do you mind?"
"We're talking here."
Cordelia’s personal growth on the show is probably second only to Buffy herself so far.
Anyway, the class nitwit doubles back into the Inca mummy section to steal an old plate the mummy is holding,
and he does one of the most laughable bits of miming ever,
and UH OH the mummy princess is alive and kills him.
When no one sees the dead guy for a day or so the gang jokes about it and then remembers they live in Sunnydale.
Turns out he’s replaced the mummy in the exhibit.
Buffy’s exchange student, Ampata, shows up and gets his life sucked by the mummy’s kiss.
Not sure how she knew to be at the bus station but whatever.
Buffy and friends show up and the mummy is now a young woman, lady Ampata.
We find out Cordelia is dating the lead singer of a lesser known high school band called 'Dingoes Ate My Baby',
whose lead guitarist’s name is Oz.
Oz’s introduction is probably the most important thing to happen here, though it won’t really become clear why for a few episodes.
Xander and Ampata strike up a relationship, much to Willow’s grief.
Meanwhile there’s a South American in pirate pants attacking everyone for stealing the plate.
The South American pirate has a conversation with Ampata in the bathroom that reveals the central metaphor of the entire episode.
"Please..."
"I am in love."
"You are the Chosen One."
Ampata is a version of Buffy.
"You remind me of someone from very long ago."
"The Inca princess."
"They told her that she was the only one,"
"That only she could defend her people from the nether world."
"Out of all the girls in her generation--"
"She was 16, like us."
"She was offered as a sacrifice and went to her death."
She wanted a life of her own but was called by her destiny to make the ultimate sacrifice.
So being the Inca Princess and being the Slayer are roughly parallel.
And this episode, Ampata is supposed to serve as another reminder to Buffy
that not following her Slayer destiny (or growing up) will have unbearable consequences.
More interesting is the parallel between Giles and Ampata’s body guard.
As Buffy bristles against Giles’ oversight, we get to see in this episode through Ampata’s actions what might happen were Giles not around.
"Two days in America and Ampata already seems like she belongs here."
[fitting montage of death]
Buffy and Giles figure out what’s going on when they find mummified Manpata.
They head to the dance where Ampata feels her mummy self coming back
and seduces Jonathan behind a curtain to make out with her before she presumably sucks his life force out.
Xander intervenes and nearly dies but Ampata feels a breeze of conscience and can’t do it.
She senses Giles putting the seal back together and attacks him with her weirdly strong granny arms.
Xander distracts Ampata as Buffy frees herself and...
…wuhhhh!
Mostly, I just find this episode kind of slow.
The pacing is all off.
I get what they were shooting for with the Inca princess parallel to Buffy.
But boy, is the writing on the nose and they hammer it to death.
Buffy does almost NOTHING in this episode except sit around pining for a normal life with Ampata.
Problem is the episode wants us to feel bad for Ampata,
as the body count grows and almost includes Jonathan and Xander.
“No… I can’t.”
Yeah, NOW.
"Ampata wasn't evil."
Really? What about Manpata? He had a life and a family someplace.
And I know the writers tried to make it OK for her to kill the nitwit in the beginning because he was a little slow and a troublemaker but that's a cheat.
She’s still KILLING people.
Remember what the pirate said?
"The people you kill now...so that you may live... they are innocent."
As always, there are a few enjoyable things about this episode.
Xander’s continued problematic love life is charming.
As is his always coming to his senses at the last moment to step in and defend Willow, his best friend.
Speaking of, I love Willow’s eskimo outfit
and her choice in protective costumes will be referenced
in 'Halloween', 1 episode from now. *2 episodes
And even when I first watched the episode and didn’t know who Oz was going to be in the series,
I was excited to see Seth Green was joining the show.
In all honesty, the main issue with this episode is probably that it follows on the heels of
the electric introduction of Spike and Drusilla in 'School Hard'.
'School Hard' gave us something new and exciting on the show,
where 'Inca Mummy Girl' feels like, at this point, well travelled territory.