Tabula Rasa

"Tabula Rasa" (meaning blank slate) is the eighth episode in 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.

In the episode, Buffy and Spike meet in a cemetery. Spike wants to talk about their kiss but Buffy is not interested. Suddenly, they are ambushed by goons working for a loan shark demon, to whom Spike owes a gambling debt. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara argue over an amnesia spell. The next day Willow uses herbs and Buffy's fireplace to cast another amnesia spell -- aimed for Buffy and Tara -- and then runs to catch up with the others. While she is out, however, the whole bag of herbs catches fire and, when the spell takes effect everyone in the Magic Box falls into a deep magical sleep. Upon awakening, Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, Anya, Tara, Dawn, and Spike have no idea who or where they are.

The loan shark returns with his vampires that evening to demand payment from Spike. A confrontation occurs and Buffy realizes that she is "some kind of super hero." She volunteers to help Spike while the others try to get to a hospital to find out what is wrong with them. During the fray with the henchmen, Spike unwittingly puts on his "game face." He and Buffy realize that, although she is a hero and he a vampire, they have no desire to kill each other. The rest of the Scooby Gang attempts to flee through the sewers, where they meet a lone vampire. After running from him for some time, they confront him and Xander kills him. In the heat of pursuit, however, Willow and Tara are knocked over. The stone controlling the spell falls out of Willow's purse and is crushed, ending the spell.

Quotes and trivia

 * "Time is what turns kittens into cats" - The loan shark to Spike
 * The demonic Loan Shark has a literal shark's head-- an indicator that this was to be a mostly humorous episode (despite the lasting consequences of the ending scenes)
 * "A vampire with a soul? Oh my God -- how lame is that?" - Buffy to Spike
 * When Willow tells Dawn about her attraction to women, she uses the exact same words she did in episode 16 of season 3 "Doppelgängland" to describe her evil vampire self: "I think I'm kind of gay".
 * The brown outfit Spike wears in this episode is the same one used in "Restless" for Xander's dream