2.4 Inca Mummy Girl

Plot Synopsis (Display)

Highlights

• All the stuff with Willow dressed as an Eskimo. She looks down at her costume with a look of such hopeless misery when she sees Xander walking into the room hand-in-hand with the beautiful Ampata in her Incan Princess dress. She has no clue how cute she looks - but Oz notices.
• Willow asking where Buffy is, and having to twist her whole body to look because of her Eskimo hood. When she shrugs inside the bulky costume, Xander doesn't realise that's what she's doing and tells her that next time she should say "shrug". He leaves and Willow looks after him, then says "sigh".

Pop Culture References

Xander says he doesn't know much Spanish except Doritos and Chihuahua.
'Doritos' refers to a brand of tortilla chips available in the UK as well as the States, and a chihuahua is a small breed of dog believed to have originated in Mexico.

Xander also says 'Ay caramba!', an expression made popular by Bart from the cartoon family 'The Simpsons'.

Xander: "I'm from the country of Leone. It's in Italy pretending to be Montana."
Refers to the "Spaghetti" Westerns of Sergio Leone which were set in America, but shot in Spain (rather than Italy, as Xander seems to suggest, but we could give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's referring to the nationality of Leone himself).

This is the first we see of Oz's band "Dingoes Ate My Baby", the name of which is a reference to a famous murder case in Australia where the defense hinged on a suggestion that the real culprit was a dingo (wild dog) which had attacked and killed the baby. This was later made into a film "A Cry in the Dark" starring Meryl Streep.

Buffy: "Okay, I'll still get Xander. Before he gets smoochy with Mummy Dearest."
This is the second Buffy episode to refer to the book written by the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The first was Episode 3 of Season 1, Witch.

Nice Touches

• Although they don't stress the point, it's clear that the Mummy is listening as the gang discuss when and where Ampata is due to arrive - she surely didn't turn up at the bus station by accident. She also mentions having travelled round the States, obviously touring with the Incan exhibition. This all leads to the rather horrible realisation that the Mummy must have been conscious and aware during her 500 year ordeal - no wonder she's a bit pissed.
• In the scene where Buffy is training with Giles - Xander winces in the background each time one of Buffy's kicks hits home.

Nitpicks

• This may not be a nitpick exactly, but I do find it unlikely that Rodney was able to get so close to the exhibit, and even to interfere with it and damage it - surely such an ancient and important artifact would have been behind glass, or at least roped off. Doesn't say much for museum security!
• In the library Willow is playing with a toy frog, yet in a couple of later episodes (What's My Line, Part One and Killed By Death) she refers to having "frog fear". I guess toy frogs don't count!
• At one point, Ampata tells Buffy that she has no lipstick, yet earlier we saw her using one at school.
• Several times, Giles and Buffy mention that they weren't able to find all of the pieces of the broken seal - they assume the bodyguard chap must have some of them - yet when Giles goes back to the museum to reassemble the seal, all of the pieces seem to be there.

Buffy-Speak

Buffy: Come on Giles, budge! No-one likes a non-budger!

Buffy: It's the uber-suck!