Tabula Rasa (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
| "Tabula Rasa" | |
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode | |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | David Grossman |
| Written by | Rebecca Rand Kirshner |
| Featured music | "Goodbye to You" by Michelle Branch |
| Production code | 6ABB08 |
| Original air date | November 13, 2001 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Tabula Rasa" is the eighth episode of season 6 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It explores the characters not as they are, but as they could be, after they lose their memory to a spell gone awry.
Spike confronts Buffy about their kiss at the end of the previous episode and she tells him it will never happen again, then defends him from an attack by a demon loan shark. Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara talk about their discovery that they called Buffy back from Heaven, not Hell. Willow suggests fixing the mess with a spell and Tara confronts her about her excessive use of magic. At the threat of losing Tara, a desperate Willow pledges to go a week without magic.
At the Magic Box, Giles tells Buffy he is leaving for England so she can learn to stand on her own and Buffy takes the news very badly. With the gang on the way to the Magic Box for a meeting with Giles, Willow hangs back and begins another spell in the fireplace using a crystal and some Lethe's Bramble (the forgetting herb) that will make Tara and Buffy forget their troubles. Pocketing the crystal, in her rush, she accidentally leaves a full bag of the herb on the hearth.
At the shop, Giles informs the Scoobies, including a disguised Spike on the run from the loan shark, that he is leaving, and Buffy tearfully reveals that she feels deserted by everyone. Back at the Summers' house, a spark from the fireplace sets the entire bag of Lethe's Bramble on fire, causing the whole gang to fall unconscious. They wake up that evening with no knowledge of who they are. Spike suspects Giles is his father (because they're both British and Giles feels a gut-wrenching disappointment towards him), Anya assumes she is getting married to Giles (because she is wearing an engagement ring and they jointly own the magic shop) and Willow and Xander think they are a couple (because they woke up next to each other and Willow is wearing his jacket). Giles, Anya, Xander, Willow and Tara figure out their names from their IDs and Dawn's from her necklace. Spike assumes his name is "Randy" because of the label inside his coat, and Buffy, with no evidence to her identity, names herself "Joan".
A pair of the loan shark's vampires attack the shop, looking for Spike, and frighten the gang. Buffy discovers she has super strength when she stakes one of the vampires and saves Spike. Anya and Giles remain at the magic shop to work on spells, while Buffy and Spike head outside to fight more vampires and the rest of the Scoobies retreat to the sewers in an attempt to get to a hospital. Unfortunately, they are menaced by a vampire, too.
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