Buffy Season II Episode Guide: Inca Mummy Girl

Buffy, Xander, and Willow are on another school field trip, this time to the museum. During the course of the trip, they take a guided tour of the Incan Sacrifice exhibit. The highlight of this exhibit is the mummified corpse of a sixteen-year-old girl who was chosen to save the lives of others by giving up her own life. According to legend, the circular seal resting on her body protects her from any danger, so that her body may rest eternally in its tomb. After the students leave the exhibit, the school troublemaker, Rodney Munson, sneaks back into the exhibit and tries to take the seal with him. He accidentally breaks it into pieces and tries to pick up all the fragments. Suddenly, the arms of the mummy dart out and grab Rodney's neck. Rodney stares in horrified disbelief as the mummy's eyes open before he is pulled into the tomb.

Sunnydale High is sponsoring its own foreign exchange student program for the next two weeks. Included in the event is a costumed dance that celebrates the diversity of cultures in the world. Buffy will play host to a boy from Peru, named Ampata, to which Xander hastily objects. However, Willow brings to light more distressing news: Rodney's missing. Giles and the crew investigate the Incan exhibit at the museum, where the find a broken fragment of the seal. Out of nowhere, a large man with a knife attacks the team. However, he doesn't stay long, for one look at the mummy causes him to take off immediately. Not sure about what just happened, the crew decides to return to the library, when Willow notices something strange about the mummy in the tomb: it has braces on its teeth. They deduce that this mummy is actually Rodney's corpse, which means that the original mummy is on the loose. Back at the library, Giles tries to plan a course of action when Buffy suddenly remembers her appointed meeting with Ampata at the bus station. Xander and Willow accompany her out the door. Meanwhile, at the bus station, Ampata has been waiting for nearly half an hour when he hears a voice calling his name. He tracks down the voice to the side of a bus, where he encounters the mummy. Before he can run, the mummy grabs and kisses him. Immediately, his body shrivels up into the same state that Rodney's body resides in. Buffy finally arrives at the station forty minutes late, but Ampata is still there waiting for them in the form of a beautiful young girl that immediately catches Xander's eye. Unbeknownst to them is the fact that this girl is actually the mummy from the museum, wearing Ampata's clothes.

Back at Buffy's house, Xander flirts heavily with Ampata...and it's actually working, much to Willow's dismay. After Willow and Xander leave, Ampata settles into Buffy's bedroom, unaware that the mysterious man with the knife is lurking right outside the window. The next day, Buffy introduces Ampata to Giles, who asks her if she can translate the pictograms on the seal fragment. She translates a picture of a man with a knife as "bodyguard", which leads Giles to believe that the man with the knife was simply protecting the mummy. Ampata exhibits a slight intimidation when Giles hands her the seal, but nobody really notices it. Xander then takes Ampata out to the bleachers outside the school, while Buffy and Giles research the history of the mummy. Willow is too preoccupied with Xander's growing relationship, so Buffy does most of the research chores. She and Giles discover that the mummy has the ability to drain the life force of its victims, turning them into mummies while it gains life. They realize that Rodney was killed by the mummy, not the man with the knife. Giles believes that the "bodyguard" is not protecting the mummy, but rather trying to ensure that it remains contained in its tomb. Before they can inform Xander and Ampata of this revelation, the guard appears and attacks Xander, demanding that he hand over the seal. Xander fights him off and runs back to the library with Ampata. She begs Giles to destroy the seal, saying that it's existence is placing them in danger. She leaves the library, and Xander follows her outside to console her. Buffy and Giles determine that they need to find the rest of the seal in order to learn more about the mummy, so they plan to meet at the museum later that night, effectively cancelling Buffy's plans to attend the dance. Meanwhile, Xander asks Ampata to the dance. While thinking about his offer, Ampata goes into the restroom. The Peruvian guard is waiting there for her, explaining that she must honor her sacrifice and return to her mummified state. Ampata pleads for her life, wishing to live normally with her new love, Xander. The guard does not listen, and moves to attack her, but she counters his attack with her deadly kiss, leaving him dead and mummified in the restroom. Ampata walks out into the hall and agrees to Xander's offer.

At the dance, Willow waits in her authentic yet goofy Eskimo costume for Buffy, Xander, and Ampata. Only Xander and Ampata show up, and they're too busy spending time with each other, leaving Willow alone at the table. As Xander dances with Ampata, they start to lean into each other to kiss, when suddenly Ampata's hands shrivel up. Realizing that she need life force soon, Ampata breaks out of Xander's embrace and runs toward the back of the Bronze, where she spots a boy sitting by himself. She takes him into a backroom and is about to kiss him when Xander catches up with her. The boy runs away and Xander enters. After a few minutes of comforting her, the two kiss, and Ampata lets her needs take control as she begins to drain Xander of his life force. Meanwhile, Giles goes to Buffy's house to tell her that the guard's mummified body was found in the restroom, so they investigate Ampata's luggage. Buffy discovers a shriveled corpse in Ampata's trunk, which finally leads them to realize that Ampata is the mummy they've been searching for. On the way to the Bronze, Giles realizes that the seal was keeping Ampata contained in her tomb all these years, so he must reassemble it in order to stop her. He drops Buffy off at the Bronze and heads to the museum. Back inside, Ampata interrupts her kiss, for she can't bring herself to kill Xander despite her deteriorating condition. When Giles begins to piece together the broken fragments of the seal, Ampata senses this and heads toward the museum. Buffy and Willow find Xander lying on the floor, gasping for breath. They bring him to the museum, where Ampata is about to suck the life out of Giles. Buffy challenges her to a fight, so Ampata tosses Giles' unconscious body aside and overcomes Buffy with her strength. She throws Buffy into an open tomb and closes the lid, then grabs Willow. Before she can kill her, Xander intervenes, stating that Ampata will have to take his life if she wants to live. On the verge of death, Ampata caves into desperation and grabs Xander. Her body is nearly lifeless when Buffy frees herself from the tomb and pulls Ampata away from Xander. Her arms remain in Xander's hands as her body crumbles and falls to the ground. Xander drops the arms, then immediately leaves the museum with the others.

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