Episode 40: Maybe They Just Assumed There Was Semen Because Warner’s There (S17E8 Melancholy Pursuit)
Did you ever want to “go from pool girl to cool girl?” Then have we got the episode of SVU for you. “Melancholy Pursuit” (S17E8)—the first Doddsisode in the Munchy canon—is ripped from a headline you never heard of and has a plot you’ll strain to follow, but have no fear because Adam and Josh will unlock its secrets. Why does the cold open have the only recognizable guest star in a total throwaway bit part? Who’s to blame for the case of the disappearing semen? What is a Sergeant Dodds? Can you leave City Island? Is there a more oversexed occupation than city bus driver? My one of the potential perps be Pam-huffing buds with a Munch alum? The answers to those queries and so many more lie within the run of this episode.
Episode 33: Who’s Showering at Benson’s? - The Brotherhood of Big Bald Bosses (Part 2) (S14E1 Lost Reputation/S14E2 Above Suspicion)
In Part 2 of our deconstruction of the epic two-parter, "Lost Reputation/Above Suspicion" (s14e01), Josh and Adam get deep into the nitty gritty of the pressing questions that energize Munchheads the world over: Which French noir director had a better grasp of mise en scene, Jean-Pierre Melville or Henri-Georges Clouzot? Is consensual knife play more GGG than paying escorts to talk to pathetic old men? Is Dean Winters actually, after all these years, a good actor? Find out the answers to these important questions plus a breakdown of the massive amount of plot in this mega episode of Law & Order: SVU.
Episode 32: The Brotherhood of Big Bald Bosses (Part 1) (S14E1 Lost Reputation/S14E2 Above Suspicion)
If you thought that Munch My Benson would approach the hour-and-a-half-long Season 14 premiere mega-sode "Lost Reputation/Above Suspicion" with a pithy plot reconstruction and a few succinct comments, you were sorely mistaken. This televised love song to Dann Florek provided so much material for Josh and Adam that it had to be broken up into roughly equal parts. This week's topics include GamerGate, a Meadow Soprano drinking game, obscure Haitian rums, tulpas, Henry Winkler, and, of course, an in-depth history of the wizened, hairline-challenged, not-quite-leading men of television. Prepare for a wild ride.
Episode 31: It’s a Bad Way To Wake Up If You’re a Recovering Alcoholic (S13E23 Rhodium Nights)
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.
Episode 29: I Was Gonna Say The Guy’s Scared Stiff (S5E8 Abomination)
With a melange of Ripped from the Headlines story points peppering the subject of this week’s installment, Season 5, Episode 8 “Abomination,” there is A TON for Adam and Josh to talk about, including Matthew Shepard, Lawrence v. Texas, the odious Westboro Baptist Church, the sham that is conversion therapy, and Oscar-nominated actor George Segal. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of talk about what really matters to you: hypotheses on the possibly sketchy operations of East Village gay bars, the evolution of acceptable language in television and film, how insanely problematic the movies of our youth are, in-depth analysis of characters’ eating habits, and the warped mindset created by the repeated ingestion of the general insanity of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Episode 21: Oh, Quaaludes, Cue Adam’s Drug Dive (S18E9 Decline and Fall)
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.
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 Sullenberg? Take a (not 500 mile) walk with us as we breakdown this particularly bizarre example of the modern police procedural.
Episode 17: Fantasticaaaaaaa (S13E19 Street Revenge)
So this week the boys at Munch My Benson found out what happens when superheroes—yes, you read that correctly—infiltrate wild world of Law & Order: SVU: utter #$%&ing insanity. Yep, we watched S13E19 “Street Revenge,” and it’s probably safe to say that we haven’t watched a weirder one than this. On this journey through the absurd, we marvel at the brazen disregard for copyright law, the nonsensical and likely unsanitary world of brick chicken, and actors’ embellished CVs while exploring the New York outdoor basketball scene and the sad existence of real-life superheroes.
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 10: Staten Island Has Its Own Entire Language (S1E20 Remorse)
This week, Adam and Josh tackle a bonafide Munchisode (Law & Order: SVU Season 1, Episode 20, "Remorse"), one where John Boy's feelings are on full display and directed at the victim, a local news anchor played by Jennifer Esposito. Wrestling with emotions and contending with delightfully tactless bomb squad techs, the ground between bizarre Czech-to-English guidebooks and the proper way to puke in a toilet that's not your own is covered.
Episode 7: This Sad Sack POS Has an Inverted Jenny? (S1E7 Uncivilized)
Despite the world being on fire, Adam and Josh are back this week to talk about Episode 7 from Season 1 of Law & Order: SVU called "Uncivilized," probably the wildest episode we've done yet. Leopold and Loeb? More like the Bestie Boys. Covering the bases on the most deliciously problematic episode we've covered yet, we go down a DOM rabbit hole, marvel at the words the writing staff puts into the mouths of its main cast and Canadian indie rock front men, determine the perviest drink you can order at a bar, and talk fellately--er, philately, before reckoning with some fatally shoddy police work. The pictured children will never play touch again.
Episode 3: Is that Staten Island Slang? (S19E8 Intent)
We dive into another ep of Law & Order: SVU. This time we learn about West Virginia, colostomy bags, how to pronounce Klatch properly, and the 2013 Miami Heat. We are watching Season 19 Episode 8 "Intent." In the podcast’s first foray into Ripped from the Headlines fare, the squad investigates a rape that isn’t quite what it seems. An MMA fighter nicknamed ‘The Monster” jarringly rapes an Instagram star, only to find out that she asked for him to rape her. Or did she?