Episode 107: You Take Your Pension and Open up a Jet Ski Dealership (S15E2 Imprisoned Lives)
Well, we've got ourselves another Mo-Mo incident in Times Square...
Needlessly picking up right from the smoldering wreckage of Liv freeing herself from her captor William Lewis by way of bludgeoning her captor with an iron bar, we get a stark ripped-from-the-headlines episode delving into the infamous Ariel Castro case. Kidnapping victims are held in cages in the basement and raped for decades, and Liv's PTSD is still very real. This episode dwells in darkness. That doesn’t mean the Munchie Boys have to, though, as the discussion veers into off-brand Muppets knockoffs, the ineptitude of the Cleveland Police Department, where Cassidy ranks on Benson’s loves of her life, and the hazards of dialogue directed at people named “Buddy” reading in different ways.
Episode 106 - She’s Summoning the Monolith (S15E1 Surrender Benson)
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!
Episode 105 - Oh, They’ll Sexualize Anyone in a Really Terrible Way (S14E24 Her Negotiation)
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.
Episode 253: You Gotta Bail out the Hunks (S14E21 Traumatic Wound)
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.
Episode 251: You Have to Wet Yourself into the 12th (S15E4 Internal Affairs)
With the Unit and Liv in some serious transitional waters, IAB Lieutenant Ed Tucker comes in and muddies those waters up something fierce as he draws Liv's new roommate/boyfriend Brian Cassidy into an undercover sting for the Rat Squad to earn him a gold star and re-entry to the hallowed halls of the proper NYPD. Of course, this being the Warren Leight years, Benson and her relationship are put through the ringer, as the 12th Precinct is as dirty as it gets and Cassidy gets caught up in some pretty dicey stuff with a scuzzy cop and his sad and desperate partner. There's plenty of fun to be had, as Cassidy has too many T-shirts, can't dodge a sordid sexual situation with Liv listening to the whole thing, and nearly gets killed before having his special lady friend tell him to shut his yap while cuddling.
Episode 250: You Gotta Have A Hot Pile (S14E3 Twenty-Five Acts)
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.
Episode 249: Vermont or Safe Room? (S14E19 Born Psychopath)
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.
Episode 103: You Gotta Give People Some Cold Cucumber Water While You Rub Their Joint Down (S14E22 Poisoned Motive)
This week, The Munchie Boys tackle a Finisode preoccupied with unpacking Fin's history while an undercover with Narcotics, more than a decade after the fact. Rollins gets improbably shot, which leads to an unhealthy dose of police brutallity and metaphorical prison rape threats, but that's not nearly as shocking as some truly disturbing home-decor-driven revelations upon meeting a seemingly normal family with a secret left unspoken.
Alexandra Eames also pops up in this episode, which means there’s a little bit of Criminal Intent’s history to deal with, and there are a ton of guest stars with SUPER WEIRD backgrounds which lead us to speaking about whether bands could have been around to have songs on the Iron Eagles II soundtrack, bathing beauty contests, Carmelo Anthony’s very public and extremely inconsiderate birthday present to his wife, and another truly wild IMDb self-penned biography. This one starts wild and ends wilder in ways you wouldn’t have predicted.
Episode 244: The Only Way He Could Get Hard Was If The Bleacher Creatures Were Calling Out His Name (S16E2 American Disgrace)
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.
Episode 20: Wherein SVU Prophesies The Future... Of Tom Hanks's Filmography (S16E6 Glasgowman’s Wrath)
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.
Episode 94 - Do Buffalonians Dream of Erotic Meats? (S13E5 Missing Pieces)
This week, the world's largest airline ensured that this episode could not be released on time. To all of the listeners whose Monday mornings were tragically impacted by this unfortunate event, we at Munch My Benson are truly sorry.
Sadly, the writing staff of Season 13 of SVU was absolutely unapologetic in thoroughly trashing the second largest city in the state that SVU calls home. We've seen this show look askance at lesser states and provinces across the continent, but the glee with which this episode implies that Buffalonians will stop at nothing to ensure that their own children grow up in unsafe homes is truly shocking. Josh and Adam, of course, talk early childhood education, examine the films of Satyajit Ray and Michael Cimino, describe bottomless brunches and lil' squeezers, and plumb the depths of Rollins's depraved backstory. Enjoy!
Episode 237: For Some Unknown Reason, Munch My Benson Broke Containment (S16E14 Intimidation Game)
It's been a while folks, but the Munchie Boys are officially back on the horse. No, not H. The figurative horse that having a child can buck you from. And how are Adam and Josh repaid for their long overdue return to actively podcasting about Law & Order: SVU? Well, once you move past the fact that they basically had a three-minute commercial for the podcast on primetime network television, they had to watch an episode that avid gamer Ice-T has since distanced himself from. Yes, it's time to revisit Gamergate, one of the dumbest incidents in our timeline that somehow seems more and more germane to the world in which we live with each passing day.
Episode 99 - Well She Apparently Has an STI, So Something Did Rub Off (S17E23 Heartfelt Passages)
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.
Episode 98: His Refractory Period Is in Inverse Proportion to His Height (S17E22 Intersecting Lives)
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.
Episode 34: It Was a Beige Turtleneck, So It Really Made Him Look Like a Human Penis (S13E7 Russian Brides)
Adam's Paternity Leave continues, so why not cross the jump right back to where the Randomizer kicked us out to immediately after we did the three-part mega-Cragenisode?
Praise be to the SVU Gods and the Randomizer because this week's Munchstallment “Russian Brides” has it all. The seventh ep from season 13 not only thrusts a rusty Captain Cragen into undercover duty for the first time since before Cabot and Amaro were born, but it also traumatizes you with way-too-specific details as to what our vic went through before perishing. Add to that the unrealized prospect of high-end koozies, the irony of nicknaming a neighborhood Odessa by the Sea when the O.G. Odessa is in fact by the sea, a journey into the daunting world of the vory v zakone, and the fact this this episode feeds directly into the huge three-parter we just spent the past three weeks poring over, and you've got the recipe for a very tasty Cragenisode with a blini and a heaping portion of Captain Don's bottomless pit of sorrow.
Episode 81: Nina’s Grinding So Hard on Carisi’s Joint Here (S16E15 Undercover Mother)
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.
Episode 15: Amaro's Peculiar Sense of Smell (S13E15 Hunting Ground)
Scarred by a gruesome SVU case ripped from even more grisly headlines, Adam and Josh trudge through the murk of “Hunting Ground” (Season 13, Episode 15), which forces them to get familiar with the yet-to-be caught Long Island serial killer. While exploring the most devastating ep in Munchstory thus far, the topics of Amaro’s olfactory prowess, the chance that he’ll get a thirst for blood, the hazards of Longview, and the nuanced but tangled mess that was the Backpage are all covered. Come along for a journey through the darkness. We’ve got the flashlights.
Episode 13: I Don’t Feel Like Wesley Crusher Could Take Care of Himself (S15E8 Military Justice)
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.