Inca Mummy Girl vs. Feminism

I've never been a huge fan of "Inca Mummy Girl." Of every episode of Buffy, that has to be one of my least favorites. Regardless, when I was reading the critique by Byers, the comment "The series dramatizes the struggle that many young women face to be strong, independent, articulate, ambitious, and powerful. And this is done without erasing women's desire for connection," stuck out to me. It stuck out at first because Buffy and Impata are both trying to do all of these things and they're both facing similar problems (they're both 'the chosen one,' they're both trying to maintain impossible relationships.) The more I thought about it though, the less alike Buffy and Impata became. Buffy's life was taken away, but she still kept using her power to fight for what was right. Impata's life was taken away, and she used her power for selfish purposes only. Then again, as easy as it is to write Impata off as a villain, it's just as easy to see her as a good person who was put in a bad circumstance. This ambiguity makes it difficult for the audience to decide wether or not Impata is actually good or evil, and follows the audience long after the episode is over (becuase Buffy never actually does kill Impata.) While it may seem that Buffy chose to defeat Impata, that's not exactly what happened. Impata simply dies because she runs out of time to feed off of another human.

This lack of a decision, makes it impossible to label Impata as either good or bad.

In hindsight, that may actually be why I don't enjoy watching this episode...