Incan Mummy Girl

Buffy Episode Review

In which Xander has crap taste in women.

What Happened

You'd think they'd know better than to go on field trips, but anyways... Buffy and the gang visit the local museum during Cultural Exchange Week, where they disturb the rest of an Incan Mummy Girl. (Do you think they sweated the title for this one?) She wakes up and turns into a beautiful sixteen year old girl.

Naturally, she takes advantage of the whole exchange student thing to pass herself off as the South American boy who was supposed to be staying with Buffy. Just as predictably, Xander decides that he's totally in love with her. Ampata tries to make it work, but her constant need to suck the life from others in order to survive puts a damper on their relationship.

The Good

• Buffy: "Oh, I know this one: Slaying entails certain sacrifices blah blah blahdity blah. I'm so British; give me scone."
  Giles: "It's as if you know me." Buffy wanting to go to the dance and beating Giles into submission.
• Xander trying to weasel out of taking "date Willow" to the dance. Willow trying to pretend she didn't hear.
• "And this is what we call 'snack food.'" Xander and Ampata flirting on the bleachers.
• "And Xander can just find another girl who's not me to obsess about." Poor Willow.
• "Who is that girl?" Oz. Automatically cool.
• "Present company excluded, I have the worst taste in women. In the whole world. Ever." Xander and Buffy bonding.

The Bad

• Sunnydale Bus Depot. If Sunnydale has an airport, why doesn't Ampata fly in? Not to mention, what kind of student exchange program dumps a kid on a bus and tells him wait at the station for his ride?
• Ampata has to borrow lipstick from Buffy. But she just had lipstick at school. And where did she get the costume and kicky boots from? Not to mention those false eyelashes. And what was with those huge trunks? How long were these exchange students supposed to stay, anyways?

The Cliche

• Sure, just because Ampata and the seal come from the same continent, Ampata would be able to translate it.
• Sidekicks in Love. Never goes well.

Best Lines

Buffy: "One day, I'm going to live in a town where evil curses are generally ruled out without saying."

What Did I Think?

Yet another of Xander's killer girlfriends. The parallel between Ampata and Buffy was thumped in nicely. Revisiting that same old theme, however, took attention away from the Willow/Xander dynamic that should have been front and center.