"Tabula Rasa" is the nineteenth episode of Season Three and the 64th overall of Criminal Minds.
Summary[]
After a suspected serial killer wakes up from a coma, the BAU reopens the case and uses brain fingerprinting to determine if he really doesn't remember the crimes that had been committed four years earlier in Roanoke, Virginia.
Guest Cast[]
- Jon Barton - SWAT Leader
- Heather Belling - April Sutherland
- Anne Betancourt - Nina Moore
- Roxana Brusso - Lidia
- Amy Carlson - Cece Hillenbrand
- Steven Culp - Lester Serling
- Loreni Delgado - Technician
- Beau Dremann - Sergeant
- James Eckhouse - Mr. Corbett
- Bob Gebert - Doctor
- Dick Herlan - Mr. Moore
- Jenn Marie Jones - Darci Corbett
- Eric Lange - Brian Matloff
- Sarah MacKay - Nurse
- F. William Parker - Judge
- John Pirruccello - Resident Jogger
- Jenny Powers - Woman
- James Sharpe - Detective Ted Jarvis
Referenced Criminals[]
- David Carpenter, The Trailside Killer
- Eric Rudolph, The Olympic Park Bomber
- The Richard Jewell case
- Derrick Todd Lee, The Baton Rouge Serial Killer
- Dennis Rader, BTK
Bookend Quotes[]
- Aaron Hotchner: "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." – Anatole France
- Mr. Corbett and Spencer Reid: "What though the radiance that was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind." – William Wordsworth
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode is Latin for "blank slate" and philosophically refers to the state of a person's mind before it has any experience of the world. The term is also referring to Matloff waking up without his memory.
- Chronologically, this episode shows the first time Morgan refers to Garcia as "baby girl".
- This is the 1st of 9 episodes in which a non-BAU/ guest cast character, Mr. Corbett, recites a bookend quote. The other episodes are:
- "Coda" - Ending bookend quote recited by Ian Doyle.
- "Lauren" - Ending bookend quote recited by JJ (who was with the State Department at that time)
- "Zugzwang" - Ending bookend quote recited by Maeve Donovan.
- "200" - Beginning bookend quote recited by Prentiss. (Who was with Interpol at that time)
- "Beyond Borders" - Ending bookend quote recited by Jack Garrett.
- "Tribute" - Beginning bookend quote recited by Prentiss. (Who was with Interpol at that time)
- "Chameleon" - Beginning (and only) bookend quote recited by Krystall Richards.
- "Family Tree" - Beginning and end bookend quote recited by Everett Lynch.
Notes[]
- Despite Reid being established as having an eidetic memory, in this episode, he was unable to remember Garcia's name. This may have simply been an error on the writer's part.
- During multiple flashbacks both Reid and Garcia are referred to as being new. While Hotch and Reid are at the scene of one of the victims body, Hotch introduces Reid as a new agent. In another flashback, Morgan refers to Garcia as being the "new tech girl". So it would make sense that Reid didn’t know her name yet.