Law & Order (TV Series) Boy Gone Astray (2009) User Reviews

Based on this episode, young actor has a long career ahead of him

[garrard · 8/10 · 7 November 2009]

In "Boy Gone Astry", Mario Quinonez, Jr joins the long list of young performers that have made impressive guest star turns on "Law & Order." The fifteen-year-old actor is quite convincing as a young man who, along with others, has been trained as a hit man by members of a Mexican drug cartel. With his innocent face and small stature, he delivers a performance that is both harrowing and sympathetic.

The scene where his character salivates over ADA Rubirosa's lunch, prepared by his mother, shows the actor's skills. In the scene, only his eyes "talk" and they do a wonderful job of conveying the character's confusion, being a boy yet committing an adult crime.

Quinonez deserves an Emmy nomination, at least.

Young Assassins

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 9 December 2012]

This episode marked the first of two appearances by Jonathan Cake as Marcus Woll the kind of smarmy defense lawyer that lawyer jokes are made about. But this guy is no laughing matter as the second episode showed very clearly.

After a stint in the DA's office Cake now is a very expensive criminal attorney who is in court representing three juveniles who are charged as adults in the killing of Susan Pellegrino. This woman an interior designer by day makes a nice untaxed income moving drugs big time for a Mexican drug cartel. But I won't tell you the reason why she's hit. That's something you have to see for yourselves.

And the shooters are these three Chicano kids, spirited away from bordertowns and given training as assassins. That's why they're being charged as adults.

One of them Mario Quinonez, Jr. is being offered a deal by Linus Roache to turn and being encouraged by his parents as well to take the deal. Still the cartel and Cake have their own methods of persuasion.

Cake and Quinonez are both memorable in this episode.

Propedeutic to Narcos by Giuseppe Ferrara!

[rfndayitabi · 8/10 · 23 June 2022]

This episode while very acted and written is a weak sauce comapred to the movie they took inspiration from. Based on a true story, the film is set in the late 1980s in Colombia, where some kids are involved in trafficking who kill on commission anyone who annoys the mafia bosses of the Medellín Cartel, who train them for murder through instructors. Foreign military in real "schools". Jesus, Diego and Miguel, three of these guys, have become uncomfortable because they know too much and their "superiors" decide to get them out of the way. They then decide to tell Judge Ramirez everything they know but in the end the Cartel will make them disappear into thin air.

Trained to kill

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 28 February 2023]

The story sounded very intriguing, though it also wasn't a massively unique premise ('Law and Order' did a fair amound of drug cartel stories. 'Law and Order' for a while, and still continued to do so a good deal post-Briscoe, did a very good job making ordinary concepts more interesting than they sound. Will admit though to preferring stories that have a wider range of emotional impact and that tackle more controversial and tougher subjects that isn't sugar-coated in execution.

While not one of the best episodes of Season 20, "Boy Gone Astray" is still very good, in fact very nearly great and quality doesn't go astray. Like a number of episodes, one half is better, or at least more riveting, than the other. Don't get me wrong, despite how this sounds, it's compelling throughout but is even better in the second half. Which is not unheard of in 'Law and Order', in fact it's very common. If asked whether "Boy Gone Astray" is recommended, the answer would be yes.

"Boy Gone Astray" isn't perfect. It does try to cram in too much in too short a space of time towards the conclusion, not an uncommon problem in 'Law and Order' episodes.

Perhaps a bit on the ordinary side to begin with.

On the other hand, so much is good. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. All the other regulars are absolutely terrific, particularly in the legal portions and in the debates. Linus Roache is confident and authoritative and Mario Quinonez Jr gives an intensely moving performance. Jonathan Cake chills the blood as someone one doesn't want to get on the wrong side of to put it lightly.

Furthermore, the episode has a thoughtful script that like a lot of 'Law and Order' episodes raises interesting questions worthy of debate with somebody, the moral dilemmas of the case treated intriguingly. The story is tactful but also pulls no punches and has tension in the second half. Nothing is too simple or too complicated and the second half even is riveting and keeps one guessing the more complex it gets. The character writing and interaction are near-on point and the conflict, with Cutter having to go through a lot to even get a trial, has tension.

All in all, very good. 8/10.