A shock jock cut from the same cloth as any number of high-profile sexual predators (be they Hollywood execs, former Presidents, or unassuming television hosts) enters the world of SVU, and everyone loses their minds. Or at least forgets how things like logic, character motivations, or professional storytelling would dictate where the episode should go. With plot holes as gaping as the Grand Canyon, this exasperating journey into the world of the undercover triple-crossing faux private eye crime genre will try one's patience while still approaching being fun.

A high-period Neal Baer episode which careens wildly from squabbling cub scouts to open-relationship-having MMA legends to racist frat houses and finally to Riker's Island prison gangs educated by one of the absolute legends of alt-country with a healthy dose of our favorite single season star, Chester Lake, thrown in. This SVU goes places none of us could have expected, including having one of the most recognizable guest actors in the episode die in the most disrespectful way possible after a single line of dialogue. It's really something.

It's Velasco's first official day on the unit, which means that Fin, Rollins, and Benson will all be adjusting to almost having a reasonable number of investigators. Of course, it also means that Chief McGrath now has eyes inside the unit. While season-long arcs are all well and good, we Munchers are after the good stuff, which in this episode means pondering the physics of rooftop coitus and digging deep into the unintentional racism in which certain iterations of this show sometimes traffic.

The power brokers in New York Law Enforcement and the Catholic Church seem to be in cahoots as they end up in SVU's crosshairs. Why might these powerful men be under investigation? Oh, they just appear to be trafficking teen girls from St. Fabiola's to their closed-door sex parties featuring a slew of city employees who will gladly abuse their power to turn the tables and go after Tucker and the SVUs hot on their trail. By the end of the first part of this compelling two-parter, bodies have dropped, careers are in jeopardy, and acting and accent choices put an otherwise high-quality episode in dire straits.

Sonny Carisi gets down and dirty with some pretty gnarly dudes in this week's SVU, which sends dearest Dominick undercover into a shelter populated by paroled sex offenders. One (or more?) of these parolees appears to be raping neighborhood women and the Unit has to figure out who's doing it before Carisi gets beaten to a pulp by meathead vigilantes. Luckily Michael Rapaport is around to save Carisi's bacon once, but is he the guy? This mostly effective episode leaves Carisi wondering aloud if maybe the sex offender registry is unfair when compared to say a murderer who gets out and doesn't have to tell a soul that they cut off someone's head with a dull machete.

Josh and Adam--both of whom are pretty big fans of Cutty in The Wire--are forced to watch an episode this week where Chad L. Coleman is seen Ray Rice-ing his special lady friend, played by the wonderful Meagan Good. That's not fun to watch, but it's also not fun to watch the SVUs acting against the victim's vehement wishes. It's even less fun to watch after Amaro (who is just back from beating a perp to within an inch of his life) blows up in the opening scene of "Spousal Privilege" (Season 16, Episode 8), making the audience wonder just what qualities in outburst-prone people determine that they get a second chance.

Don't worry, the Munchie Boys also use this episode to revel in RedChanIt, take notice of how many of the SVUs were abused as children, and dive deep into the life of NYC’s first black mayor, David Dinkins, who randomly had two lines in this episode.

In the course of watching 112 episodes of SVU, few things have shocked us as much as seeing the writers of this show take a measured and nuanced approach to not one, but two decidedly problematic issues in polygamy and female genital mutilation. That these both appear in an episode that gives screen time to topics including "stop snitching" culture, tide charts, epilepsy, and one of Elliot Stabler's former flings means there was a whole lot to discuss. The true die hards will want to check out our Patreon for an extended history of the Biafran War from Adam, Josh going full on Rage Against The Machine, and the two of us nearly coming to blows over the availability of liquor stores in southern Utah. There is way too much fun/dumb stuff in this one folks!

Josh and Adam get a little loose in this late-night follow up to last week's wild William-Lewis-fueled terror ride. Since "Post-Mortem Blues" is the rare SVU without a case for the squad to investigate, or really much of a plot at all, the Munchie boys complain about life and then wander from current (as of early December 2021) events and HBO's Succession, to method acting and the limits of attorney-client privilege on their way to placing this episode where it belongs in the show's pantheon.

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!

The Randomizer has thrown the Munchies Boys into the deep end this week, thrusting them into the sixth staggered installment of a sex-trafficking saga centered around Noah’s father and a ragtag crew of severely traumatized sex workers—”Surrendering Noah” (SVU S16E23). Here, there’s a ton to unpack. How do they keep Baby Doe calm? Why did they slam Elliot at the end of the episode? Why did both Benson and Amaro think he’d be a good candidate for Sergeant? Buckle up, kiddos, it’s another wild ride, and this one has Nick Amaro riding off into the sunset after suiciding-by-cop Noah’s monster dad.

Today's SVU episode ("Hothouse" S10E12) takes some fairly wild turns between drifting bodies, Ukrainian prostitution rings, elite prep schools, and the New Jersey justice system, but somehow Josh and Adam take it even further. We discuss tide charts, the identity of "the rich man's Brian Brown," the concept of Zugzwang, and the fate of Imre Nagy among many, MANY, other things.

The cliffhanging Season 13 Finale “Rhodium Nights” is an episode that belongs in the pantheon of SVU entries, featuring what has to be the most memorable ending in the entire series. This wild ride takes us down a slew of odd paths, including discoveries of Rollins’s economic beliefs, explorations into load volume, lamenting meddlesome US foreign policy, and travel recommendations for border towns. There’s TONS to talk about in this one, which is a truly shocking installment of television.

Contrary to Freud, sometimes a sandwich is just a sandwich. The sandwich that Olivia Benson eats at the denouement of "Risk" (Season 4 Episode 12), a rollicking tale a of yuppie coke king who improbably turns to wholesale mom slaughter, however, carries a heaping pile of lost innocence and love turned sour within its soggy buns. Join the Munch crew as we break down this truly bizarre gem. If you are curious about fall foliage, the John Cusack classic One Crazy Summer, or Tutuola scion Ken Randle's ability to drive the basketball, you have found the correct Law & Order: SVU podcast. 

With a ripped-from-the-headlines story owing to none other than serial dosing rapist Bill Cosby, Adam and Josh covered the disgusting territory laid out in Episode 9 from Season 18, “Decline and Fall.” If you’re wanting to hear the most repugnant filth spewing forth from the septuagenarian warden from The Shawshank Redemption, being repeatedly forced to envision him engaging in coitus, while having Prezbo’s biography recontextualized by an episode of Law & Order: SVU, this is the episode for you.

It is a wonder that "Underbelly" Season 8, Episode 7 passed NBC's Standards and Practices Department for any number of reasons. It sexually objectifies real-life 14-year-olds, it is extremely racist, it makes offhand references to piss play, and it takes us on a mind-bending Pynchonian journey to an interzone where The Wire both exists and does not exist depending on the exact placement of John Munch on the Eastern Seaboard. Join Josh and Adam as they unravel a bizarre case involving Stabler, Munch, Sister Peg, Beck (wait who?), and the cast of Season 4 of The Wire and learn about vintage Ferrari pricing, chemical spills in Nunavut, and the mating behaviors of 40-something divorced Dads.