MOMMIE DEAREST. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.

In "Inca Mummy Girl," Buffy and Giles seek to puzzle out the mystery of the exchange student Ampata, with whom Xander has become enamored: 

BUFFY: I should've guessed. Remember Ampata wanted us to hide the seal?

GILES: And then she wanted us to destroy it becau... Oh wait!

BUFFY: Uh, waiting...

GILES: Well, we already know that the seal was used to contain the mummy. If breaking it freed her . . .

BUFFY: . . . reassembling it will trap her.

GILES: I'll go to the museum. I'll drop you off. I'll try to piece together the fragments there.

BUFFY: Okay, I'll still get Xander. Before he gets smoochy with Mummy Dearest.

Buffy is punning on the title of a 1981 Frank Perry guilty pleasure biopic of screen legend Joan Crawford, memorable primarily today for Faye Dunaway's over-the-top performance as Crawford.

 

--David Lavery