When last week's episode ended with Olivia Benson being taken captive by über-psychopath William Lewis, we knew that we'd be going deep into the darkest hour of SVU's storied run this week. This is 43 full minutes of torture porn so bleak and visceral that it's honestly shocking it aired on network television. Please prepare yourself for how messed up this episode is. Thankfully, Josh and Adam munch it up by talking about a diverse range of European arthouse classics you wouldn't want to bring a date to, our coffeeshop orders, and whether or not Pizza Man exists within the Fur Humper Cinematic Universe. Oh, and lest we forget, Adam has an outlandishly bold theory which just might change the way you look at Olivia Benson forever. Enjoy!

When SVU dips its toes in the waters of cutting edge technology, things tend to age like fine milk.

What happens when NYPD's Special Victims Unit faces a suspect who would be more at home on Pretty Little Liars than in a world hewing closer to reality? The Munchie Boys found out the answer to that question this week while they endured an exasperating episode that found them trying to talk about anything other than this dreadful SVU. Why can Chris Diamantopolous do absolutely everything with computers? Because a supervillain from a comic book swooped into this world, pissing in the cereal of everyone subjected to this episode.

Apparently everyone needed to wallow in the darkness of the William Lewis Saga again, this time starting at the beginning...

The Randomizer decided that everyone needed to wallow in the darkness of the William Lewis Saga again, this time starting at the beginning with “Her Negotiation,” the season finale of Season 14 complete with cliffhanger leaving our hero Olivia Benson in a very dark place. This obviously means the Munchie Boys have to deal with fur-humping, Plein Air Painters, the life's work of Frederick Law Olmstead, and the shooting star that was Matt Harvey's early baseball career. Oh, and a pastiche serial killer drawing from some of the darkest imaginable sources.

HAS NO ONE LEARNED THE BIG CITY IS SCARY???

In yet another hysterical installment from this show, a young woman has the temerity to venture to the big city from her idyllic suburban life and immediately pays the price for that transgression. This being Law & Order: SVU, that price makes her a special victim. Here, a topsharking for hire--don't worry, we didn't know what that meant either--goes sideways real fast because Warren Leight's New York is teeming with monsters, and that's especially true at Wild Yaks shows. Don't worry, though, because Connecticutians do not get off scot-free here. The Big Apple may be scary, but the Constitution State is rotten to the core.

This week the Munchies chose an episode in which Adam "Gamergate" Baldwin introduces us to everyone's favorite ADA, Raphael Barba. Rollins, Munch ,and Amaro start a book club about the hottest new chic-bondage-lit sensation, Twenty-Five Acts, whose author turns out not to be the author which doesn't prevent her from being raped by a terrible talk show host, who shockingly is not a cabinet member in our current administration. As the pièce-de-résistance, Barba engages in a little inculpatory choke play to guarantee his first high-profile conviction as a member of the unit.

What if Carl from Shameless was a homicidal maniac in training? That's the question this episode of SVU poses, and it's the one the Munchie Boys have to wrestle with here. They are also forced to wonder if psychopathy is endemic to a privileged youth and if waffles are the breakfast of choice for youngsters with an unquenchable bloodlust, so this one definitely trods into some weird turf.

This week we watched an aptly titled episode which follows a series of rape allegations against a recently retired basketball star.

In addition to classic Warren Leight Era racism, this is an episode in which Olivia Benson, improbably, thinks it's cool if people are falsely accused of rape in a shameless bid to end a black man's endorsement deal. We are also treated to some terrible accent work and to newly minted Detective Carisi's delightful mustache and Staten Islander pizza choices.

When we asked our listeners to select an episode for us to watch, we were asking for a choice as depraved and cruel as this, the episode that see beloved ADA Rafael Barba exit the show in ridiculous (and frankly, insulting) fashion. This episode has everything--if by 'everything' you mean bad acting, nonsensical writing, bizarre plot holes, and Phillip Winchester attempting to cry. Bad though this episode might be, we have so much to talk about including whether or not it's a good idea to rear a spite child, Adam's day at the museum, and the importance of a showrunner. Fans of our digressions should head over to Patreon to hear extensive deep dives into Japanese Onsen culture and minor league baseball.

Adam and Josh rolled the dice this week, and the dice gave them "Glasgowman's Wrath" (Season 16, Episode 6), which might be the only Halloween episode in the SVU catalogue. Who or what is a Glasgowman? Why is he wrathful? Is it GGG to act out a violent tawdry rape fantasy in a public space? How does any of this pertain to legendary plane crasher Sully Sullenberger? Take a (not 500 mile) walk with us as we breakdown this particularly bizarre example of the modern police procedural.

Yet another Season 19 episode of SVU leaves the Munchie Boys scratching their heads wondering in just what world is this even occurring. Opening with an improbable YouTuber montage and having the case of the week closing with a full seven minutes of run time remaining to open the door for an SVU lyceum at a high school, this week’s 13 Reasons Why-inspired episode (Season 19, Episode 4 “No Good Reason”) is operating at one of the strangest frequencies we’ve encountered. This one forces Adam and Josh to reckon with vlogging that makes Eighth Grade seem totally comfortable, how and when they’re going to have to get a ChatSlam account for the podcast, and the murky demise of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell.

Adam's Paternity Leave ends next week, so get some bad mom action up in this joint.

When the Randomizer selects a late-season SVU, there is often a concern that sets in that we might not be getting the best of the insanity that SVU has to offer. That concern was UNFOUNDED with regards to “Motherly Love” (S18E10)—which is a banger in every sense of the word. After having seen nearly 500 episodes of SVU and recorded now 77 episodes of a podcast about the show, it’s safe to say that the Munchie Boys have been subjected to some unimaginably shocking things, yet this episode still dropped their jaws with its brazen impropriety.

So listen as Adam and Josh revel in a truly disturbing exploration of motherhood in its darkest form. This episode is as good an exemplar as any when trying to describe why this podcast exists.

Adam's Paternity Leave is nearly over, but while we still have a couple weeks left, let's look at the last of a pair of episodes featuring a very tall Emmy winner of yore.

The Munchie Boys pick up where they left off last week, trudging through the murk as Ray’s tall brother faces the fallout from having been charged as a serial rapist while the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association possibly threatens Barba’s life for having the temerity to come after one of their guys. This fallout includes the first—and thus far, only—time an officer on the Unit dies in the line of duty, which gives Adam and Josh quite a bit to mull over while wondering why the stakes were lowered so much before offing him. Any episode that has Chekhov’s gun go off while also not having Chekhov’s gun go off means there’s going to be plenty of plot discussion to be had. There are also plenty of discussions about the typically insane things that SVU forces one to reckon with, namely intimidation wizards, phantom door-locking chicanery, the hilarity of needing apple boxes in hostage shoots, and much, much more.

Adam's Paternity Leave is near its end, but while we still have a few weeks left of it, let's look at the first of a pair of episodes (we'll pick up the second installment next week) featuring a key Emmy presenter from last night.

Hot on the heels of an episode that nearly broke our rating scale, the Munchie Boys watched Part 1 of a two-parter featuring Ray Romano's kooky brother Robert from the hit turn-of-the-century sitcom for olds, Everybody Loves Raymond. Fans of that show will remember that the actor in question, Brad Garrett, is really, REALLY tall. This causes the kind of continuity problems that only SVU can create. We're obviously talking about complex genital geometry problems. We would, of course, be remiss if our discussion stayed on topic, so expect to hear about Chinese New Year, more car talk from Josh, Rikers Island, and Predator.

Adam's Paternity Leave continues, but there's light at the end of the tunnel, so let's get conspiratorial.

What happens when a quaint little ripped-from-the-headlines Law and Order: SVU plot becomes a raging storm of insanity that sweeps the nation and leads a ragtag mob of jet ski dealers, realtors, and Neo-Nazi extremists to invade the United States Capitol? Well, the Munchie crew does their level best to answer this question and many many more as they watched "Real Fake News" (s18e17). Do you want to know what a teenaged Adam was watching at 1 in the morning on Austin cable access? Are you intrigued by the concept of a hot pot fusion restaurant that fully immerses you in a 4D psychedelic experience? Are you ready to mainline some pro-MSG propaganda and get fully Umamipilled? Everything they told you is a lie, unless, of course, they told you to fire up this hot Munch My Benson.

Adam's Paternity Leave continues, so let's get dark and problematic this week.

Mere weeks after covering its successor in the Baby Doe Parentage Saga, the Randomizer selected “Undercover Mother” (Season 16, Episode 15) for the Munchie Boys to cover.  Undercover Mother is frankly an insufficient moniker to give this episode, as another mother goes undercover for our undercover mother, along with most of the rest of the Unit. Insanity reins supreme as SVU’s undercover op interferes with Declan Murphy’s own undercover op, one in which he’s working on taking down the brutal Johnny D but not without showing that he’s in so deep that he’s basically a human trafficker himself. We talk the careers of Lili Taylor and Donal Logue, the history of the defunct Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Eric Adams’s purported sleep schedule, SVU’s love for undercover ops, and much, much more.

Adam's Paternity Leave continues, so we're going to drop in the first of two brainmelters.

After reckoning with the horrific current events aspect of this week's installment, Adam and Josh get down to brass tacks with “Military Justice,” which depending on where you watch it is either Episode 7 or 8 from Season 15 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. We discuss the essence of Galveston, the most heinous crime in the Boschiverse, the general self-preservation skills of ensigns, and Rollins straight-up laying a dude out, while marveling at a shockingly good episode of SVU complete with efficacious character development and some real tearjerking moments. And a lot of peen.

Another Paternity Leave Installment, and this time we're going with a pretty famous double-ripped-from-the-headlines episode.

We at Munch My Benson like to go off on tangents, and the intellectual fuel provided by "American Tragedy" (S15E3) propelled us pretty far out there. We learn about old New York when it was still basically New Amsterdam; we break down Cybill Shepherd's accent as it wavers in and out of caricature; we delve into the Trayvon Martin and Paula Deen cases from whose headlines this episode was ripped; we learn about John Cougar Mellencamp's extended family; and, we definitely talk about whether or not it's socially acceptable to deck a bald man in the middle of the night on a lonely street corner. Enjoy!

Another Paternity Leave Installment, and we're turning to an episode where we spoke at length about an issue that's particularly germane to what's happening now.

This week’s selection is Law & Order: SVU’s swipe at the anti-vax movement—“Granting Immunity” (S16E19)—which puts the vulnerable Baby Doe in the path of a measles outbreak spawned by the casual dismissal of science by rich dick Tribeca parents who clearly know more than epidemiologists and have conspired to circumvent New York’s mandated vaccinations for all students. This leads the Munchie Boys to investigate just what started this anti-vax MMR-causes-autism nonsense that’s since metastasized in much more widespread and nefarious ways. Don’t worry, there’s also plenty of fun to be had, including (but not limited to) the virtues of Susie Essman, the horrors of opening montage music, the hilarious inappropriateness of filmed teenage sex parties, and the watercooler TV-watching habits of the dedicated detectives of the Special Victims Unit. Is this the scariest episode of SVU in Munchstory? Only one way to find out.

Another Paternity Leave Installment, and we're whipping one out that was ripped from the headlines...

Well, kids, we’ve got ourselves a very special Barbasode, complete with a super fun headline rip. This week’s episode of SVU? Season 15, Episode 8, “October Surprise.” The inspiration? Anthony Damn Weiner. Needless to say, there is TONS to talk about, like how likely is it that a mayoral candidate’s foot-jobbing side-piece would get shipped off to work for the Israeli Labor Party and how likely is it that said side-piece killed said political party? What would your Anthony Weiner alter ego name be? What should have won Best Picture in 1938? The answers to these and so many more burning questions can be had within the run of this installment.

The rape of a woman just outside her apartment building frays the social fabric of New York, when so many of her neighbors saw something happen, but none of them took action to help or even notify the police. This being a season 17 SVU, one can't help but notice the racism bubbling very close to the surface in the portrayal of the 3 bad teens who assaulted her, and of the urbane Lower Manhattanites who refused to notice a damsel in distress. We, of course, were more interested in which East Village coffeeshops allow the open sale of ketamine inside during business hours, and why Adam never visited during his time there. We also meet a magical drunk man on the witness stand, and a Carisi unlike any we've seen before.