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tori_reviews2022-04-04 09:19 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote in tori_reviews2022-04-04 09:19 pm
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x04 – Inca Mummy Girl
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x04 – Inca Mummy Girl
This episode turned out to be a lot better than how I remembered it. I didn’t remember it badly, but I found very little of it memorable at all. And that may still prove true and I won’t recall much even by the time I post this (kind of true), but it will likely settle back into my memory with a more positive feeling to it (also kind of true).
It’s certainly the best Xander focused episode we’re had yet. Xander isn’t caught in someone’s thrall or under a spell; he’s not a complete asshole, more insensitive than asshole; and he gets to be sweet in several scenes. I don’t know that I have a ton of sympathy for him in the end as he knew Impata for about a day; it’s not a good situation, but it’s not some deep loss either. He is kind of an idiot, but that comes along with having to put this episode in such a short timeframe and rushing through what happens in that day.
Practically though, this episode raises a lot of questions about how they keep getting into the museum, what the people at the museum can see of what’s happening, why they’re allowed to just take things out of there. There’s also a slight problem at the end in that I think Xander is the only one of the Scoobies who can drive (also is the one with the car for the night) and he’s not really in a fit state to be driving at the moment. Although then I wonder how Impata’s getting around and everything gets murky again.
Also, what are they going to tell Joyce when Impata doesn’t come home? More also, I have questions about how this would have gone down in the rewritten reality with Dawn. I’ve actually noticed before now that they don’t seem to have built a lot of the set for the Summers’ house yet. Although I only manage to bring this up in an episode where we are seeing more of at least the ground floor of the house. But where was Impata going to stay when they were expecting a guy?
I’m not sure the story pulled off the parallels between Buffy and Impata (although that isn’t her name, I don’t know what else to call her) all that well. The parallels are there, but this episode isn’t really about Buffy’s sacrifices as the Slayer in any way that resonates with Impata. The closing scene that acknowledges Buffy’s reaction in 1x12 is a fair comparison…sort of, but it’s a pretty distorted reflection.
I guess I like that the story has sympathy to not-actually-Impata; but I don’t like how it doesn’t have much for the other Impata that she killed. At the rate she was feeding there wouldn’t be anyone left for the vampires in a week. She was a victim yes, she deserved sympathy for what was done to her, but her villainous acts don’t get much attention. Now, if they had established that there was a level to which she needed to absorb life energy before she stabilized, it would have been a little more sympathetic that she could rationalize it as even payback for what was done to her. On another note, it also might have been good to have Angel in this episode, as Impata could also be seen as a vampire with a soul, and Angel could give us into a window into how that’s affecting her.
Okay, so I have a point that I don’t have a real good idea how to say, so it’s going to be clunky. It also would usually go in the shipping section, but it kind of isn’t that in this case. Because Buffy seems really uninterested in guys this episode (except maybe Giles but we’ll get to that). She’s not curious about having a foreign exchange guy in her house (maybe even in her room since that’s where mummy Impata ended up); she has a vibe that’s close to ‘gay friend’ with Xander and Willow this episode, like she doesn’t quite get what the straights are having such a problem with; and when Willow says she knew Xander didn’t have a chance with Buffy it kind of reads as knowing Buffy wouldn’t be interested on a basic level. The last one might be the least substantial one, as since Buffy and Willow are friends Willow does know that Buffy isn’t interested in Xander specifically (not guys in general) and since Buffy does know that Willow likes Xander, Buffy isn’t going to put herself in the middle of it (unless she’s trying to drive a wedge, like in 2x01); but the other reading does work. And Joyce’s confusion over why Buffy isn’t going to the dance…if you didn’t know that it’s Slayer stuff, I could see it reading as gay in universe.
Add in Willow’s rainbow suspenders and a few of Impata’s lines when she’s trying to cover up for not being guy-Impata that I think would land differently with a modern viewer than they did in the 90s (it’s kind of trans-y is what I’m saying), this may be the episode with the thickest gay lens yet.
What am I shipping?
Oz makes me smile.
But hot damn my Buffy/Giles heart was loving this. They’re so touchy with each other in this one, and so comfortable being touchy with each other. They’re such a good team who can build off each other’s ideas. Even though I do wonder what Joyce thinks about Buffy dragging her middle-aged librarian up to her bedroom after refusing to go to the dance.
Well, there are a few more pieces in the Willow/Xander box, but I still haven’t started making the ship yet.
This episode turned out to be a lot better than how I remembered it. I didn’t remember it badly, but I found very little of it memorable at all. And that may still prove true and I won’t recall much even by the time I post this (kind of true), but it will likely settle back into my memory with a more positive feeling to it (also kind of true).
It’s certainly the best Xander focused episode we’re had yet. Xander isn’t caught in someone’s thrall or under a spell; he’s not a complete asshole, more insensitive than asshole; and he gets to be sweet in several scenes. I don’t know that I have a ton of sympathy for him in the end as he knew Impata for about a day; it’s not a good situation, but it’s not some deep loss either. He is kind of an idiot, but that comes along with having to put this episode in such a short timeframe and rushing through what happens in that day.
Practically though, this episode raises a lot of questions about how they keep getting into the museum, what the people at the museum can see of what’s happening, why they’re allowed to just take things out of there. There’s also a slight problem at the end in that I think Xander is the only one of the Scoobies who can drive (also is the one with the car for the night) and he’s not really in a fit state to be driving at the moment. Although then I wonder how Impata’s getting around and everything gets murky again.
Also, what are they going to tell Joyce when Impata doesn’t come home? More also, I have questions about how this would have gone down in the rewritten reality with Dawn. I’ve actually noticed before now that they don’t seem to have built a lot of the set for the Summers’ house yet. Although I only manage to bring this up in an episode where we are seeing more of at least the ground floor of the house. But where was Impata going to stay when they were expecting a guy?
I’m not sure the story pulled off the parallels between Buffy and Impata (although that isn’t her name, I don’t know what else to call her) all that well. The parallels are there, but this episode isn’t really about Buffy’s sacrifices as the Slayer in any way that resonates with Impata. The closing scene that acknowledges Buffy’s reaction in 1x12 is a fair comparison…sort of, but it’s a pretty distorted reflection.
I guess I like that the story has sympathy to not-actually-Impata; but I don’t like how it doesn’t have much for the other Impata that she killed. At the rate she was feeding there wouldn’t be anyone left for the vampires in a week. She was a victim yes, she deserved sympathy for what was done to her, but her villainous acts don’t get much attention. Now, if they had established that there was a level to which she needed to absorb life energy before she stabilized, it would have been a little more sympathetic that she could rationalize it as even payback for what was done to her. On another note, it also might have been good to have Angel in this episode, as Impata could also be seen as a vampire with a soul, and Angel could give us into a window into how that’s affecting her.
Okay, so I have a point that I don’t have a real good idea how to say, so it’s going to be clunky. It also would usually go in the shipping section, but it kind of isn’t that in this case. Because Buffy seems really uninterested in guys this episode (except maybe Giles but we’ll get to that). She’s not curious about having a foreign exchange guy in her house (maybe even in her room since that’s where mummy Impata ended up); she has a vibe that’s close to ‘gay friend’ with Xander and Willow this episode, like she doesn’t quite get what the straights are having such a problem with; and when Willow says she knew Xander didn’t have a chance with Buffy it kind of reads as knowing Buffy wouldn’t be interested on a basic level. The last one might be the least substantial one, as since Buffy and Willow are friends Willow does know that Buffy isn’t interested in Xander specifically (not guys in general) and since Buffy does know that Willow likes Xander, Buffy isn’t going to put herself in the middle of it (unless she’s trying to drive a wedge, like in 2x01); but the other reading does work. And Joyce’s confusion over why Buffy isn’t going to the dance…if you didn’t know that it’s Slayer stuff, I could see it reading as gay in universe.
Add in Willow’s rainbow suspenders and a few of Impata’s lines when she’s trying to cover up for not being guy-Impata that I think would land differently with a modern viewer than they did in the 90s (it’s kind of trans-y is what I’m saying), this may be the episode with the thickest gay lens yet.
What am I shipping?
Oz makes me smile.
But hot damn my Buffy/Giles heart was loving this. They’re so touchy with each other in this one, and so comfortable being touchy with each other. They’re such a good team who can build off each other’s ideas. Even though I do wonder what Joyce thinks about Buffy dragging her middle-aged librarian up to her bedroom after refusing to go to the dance.
Well, there are a few more pieces in the Willow/Xander box, but I still haven’t started making the ship yet.