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Law & Order: Tabula Rasa

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After a philosophy professor is pushed in front of a subway and killed, the investigation leads to a suspect who, following a divorce, changed his identity and disappeared with his daughters. Add a recap »

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Writers:: William N. Fordes Kathy McCormick

Director:: Richard Dobbs

Stars:: Angie Harmon (ADA Abbie Carmichael); Benjamin Bratt (Det. Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis); Sam Waterston (Exec. ADA Jack McCoy); S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Anita Van Buren); Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe); Steven Hill (DA Adam Schiff)

Recurring Role:: Jeffrey DeMunn (Norman Rothenberg); J.K. Simmons (Dr. Emil Skoda); Larry Clarke (Morris LaMotte); Larry S. Gregory (Court Officer)

Guest Star:: Lisa Roberts Gillan (Madelyn Bishop); Kevin Hagan (Mr. O'Connor); Tracie Jade (Ayisha); Lydia Radziul (Zara); Jennifer Sternberg (Joyce de Loach); John G. Moraitis (John Patris); Josie Chavez (Donna Davis); Joey Blum (Abe Mankoff); Rica Martens (Maxine Lowry); Edwin Sean Patterson (Maurice Russell); Sabine Singh (Allison); Tyagi Schwartz (Off. Bering); Richard Caselnova (Court Officer #2); Patti Perkins (Woman); Jackie Maruscham (Dr. Renfroe); Joe Mulligan (Off. Quinn); Stan Lachow (Judge Donald Renner); Peter Giles (Spencer Leff); Jay O. Sanders (Bill Fallon); Maggie Low (Eleanor Taska); Anne Bobby (Sylvia Fallon); Janet Sarno (Marie Costas); Frank Pellegrino (II) (Tony); Brooks Rogers (Dr. Wilton Engel); John Wylie (Joseph Sandburg); Jill Choder (Murphy); Joyce Gordon (Judge Holt); Lacey Kohl (Susan Fallon); Tracy Spindler (Alexis Fallon/Cynthia Taska)

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During syndicated reruns on TNT, Benjamin Bratt, Sam Waterson and Angie Harmon are not in the opening credits, but Chris Noth and Michael Moriarty are. edit »

Sylvia Fallon: When Alexis was four years old, she learned to tie her shoes in one afternoon.
Jack McCoy: How is that miraculous?
Sylvia Fallon: She practiced tying it for hours until she got it. How many children can do that?
Jack McCoy: At four years old?
Sylvia Fallon: William did that.
Jack McCoy: Did he do it by telling her that daddy wouldn't love her anymore unless she could tie her shoes by sundown? Did the bow have to be in the exact center? Did the loops have to be the same size? edit »
Jack McCoy: Did William Fallon terrorize those girls by threatening to withhold his love for them if they didn't do exactly what he wanted?
Sylvia Fallon: Yes.
William Fallon: You can't let her do that. The only reason I married her was so my children would have a mother. edit »
Elanor Taska: He used to tell them 'only bad girls soil their diapers', 'only bad girls cry'.
Jack McCoy: From what point on?
Elanor Taska: Birth.
Jack McCoy: He thought they could understand?
Elanor Taska: It was a process. When Susan was four and she would finish playing with a toy and she didn't put it back exactly as she found it, William broke it right in front of her and told her 'only bad girls disobey daddy'. edit »
Sylvia Fallon: Those girls are his whole life...and him theirs.
Abbie Carmichael: And where does that put you?
edit »
(Talking about her controlling husband.)
Sylvia Fallon: He wouldn't want us to be late.
Abbie Carmichael: So you're late? And what, he starts rearranging the teacups? edit »

Lennie Briscoe: It's all yours, Benito.

Briscoe is talking to the subway official who was pressing him to release the murder scene, a station, to him, so he could get the trains running. It is said that among the harsh features of Benito Mussolini's regime in Italy has been the contrasting statement, "But he made the trains run on time." It is apocryphal, at best. edit »
This episode appears to be ripped from the headlines of the Rachael and Lisa Martin cases. In 1979, Stephen Fagan picked his daughters, then 5 (Rachael) and 2 (Wendy), up from their mother Barbara Kurth's for a weekend visit and never came home. Years later Fagan, living under the name William Martin and having changed Wendy's name to Lisa, was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Fagan claimed that he took the girls to save them from a neglectful and alcoholic mother, claims Kurth and her family deny, and was sentenced to five years probation. Both girls stood by their father throughout the trial. edit »
The episode title is a Latin term literally meaning "clean slate", referring to the idea that a person's knowledge and personality are built entirely from sensory experience following birth, i.e., all nurture, no nature. The implication is that the father has such control over the inputs to his second wife's and his daughter's lives, that he is completely responsible for the devotion they show to him. edit »