| "Boy on Fire" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | L&O, Episode 20.14 | → |
| Production number: 20012 First aired: 1 March 2010 | ||
| Teleplay By Luke Schelhaas & Matthew McGough Story By Ed Zuckerman & Matthew McGough Directed By Rose Troche | ||
Plot[]
The body of a charter school student from a rough neighborhood is found beaten and then set on fire. When the police are led to a video of the event, they discover that four people in the video may be in league with a surprising collaborator and the evidence later leads to corruption by the school's principal.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jeremy Sisto as Detective Cyrus Lupo
- Anthony Anderson as Detective Kevin Bernard
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Linus Roache as A.D.A. Michael Cutter
- Alana De La Garza as A.D.A. Connie Rubirosa
- Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy
Recurring cast[]
Guest cast[]
- Debra Winger as Principal Woodside
- Aaron Shaw as Moses Dolan
- Shamika Cotton as Mrs. Dolan
- Cheryse Nicol Pickens as Jolie Henderson
- Selenis Leyva as Rona Henderson
- Melvin Mogoli as Abel Dolan
- Natascia Diaz as Cecilia Ramirez
- Bryan Fitzgerald as Jay Spivey
- Dante E. Clark as Edison Treadwell
- Brian D. Coats as Jerome Henderson
- Gerardo Rodriguez as Alberto Ramirez
- Michael Devine as Sergeant Adams
- William Jackson Harper as Officer Derek Waldron
- Dajon Matthews as Large Male Student
- LaTonya Borsay as School Safety Agent
- Remy Geller as Female Student
- Adam Dannheisser as Dwayne Bell
- Marisa Redanty as Judge Karen Gilner
- Noah Weisberg as CCS Detective Dan Josefson
- Che Ayende as Principal Gordon Tamor
- Kathy Deitch as Amy Hart
- Noel Rodriguez as Cesar Ramirez
- Ashley Klein as Homeless Girl (uncredited)
References[]
- Marvin Coyne
- Andy Mews
Quotes[]
- [After the discovery of Cesar Ramirez's body]
- Lupo: School ID to Sunrise Academy. It's a few blocks that way. One of those charter schools.
- Bernard: Trying to help kids in the lousy neighborhoods. Give them a better education to break the cycle of violence.
- Lupo: Looks like they've got a little ways to go.
- Principal Woodside: Yes I've heard about the murder, everyone's talking about it.
- Bernard: Anyone talking about who did it?
- Principal Woodside: Most of these kids worship at the Church of Don't Snitch.
- Principal Woodside: Charter schools, magnet schools, they take all our best students, and then we're blamed for having the worst. Kids from poverty, from broken families, a hundred years of neglect and we have to get them ready for college with just a few hours a day. Some charter school that gets 20 million dollars from Bill Gates and they get a few students into Dartmouth, it makes front page news. You want to know what the real success stories are? When a student from Aaron Burr who couldn't even read in the ninth grade manages to graduate and get a job in an auto-parts store instead of becoming a drug dealer. That's a success story, our success story. But no one cares. No one wants to hear about it.
- [After Principal Woodside is arrested]
- McCoy: Grand larceny? What did she steal?
- Cutter: Well, how about a decent education for her students? Their integrity, their potential?
- McCoy: I don't think there's a law against stealing potential.
Background information and notes[]
- Since "The Jay Leno Show" was canceled and all the 10 PM weekday timeslots were available, the series was moved again to Mondays only this time at 10 PM.
- Van Buren mentions a female detective from the Special Victims Unit who tried to get Jolie Henderson to talk about her gang rape. That is likely a reference to Olivia Benson.
| Previous episode: "Steel-Eyed Death" |
"Boy on Fire" Law & Order Season 20 |
Next episode: "Brilliant Disguise" |