Episode 131: Any Teenager Getting off a Bus at the Port Authority Is Going to Get Turned out (S13E10 Spiraling Down)
Why do any non-New Yorkers even bother coming to the big city? They're just gonna get turned out within minutes. Of course, that might give them the chance to service a john of Broadway Joe's caliber. This one does quite the about-face halfway through, making the wild left turn from teens being forced into prostitution fresh off the bus at the Port Authority into a dive into the unending effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and how it’s downing our sports idols. Obviously it was going to end up there, right? This is SVU, after all.
Episode 81: Nina’s Grinding So Hard on Carisi’s Joint Here (S16E15 Undercover Mother)
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 78: She Has Ears That Lend Themselves To Elfing (S13E22 Strange Beauty)
People, this episode of Law & Order SVU ("Strange Beauty" S13E22) is why we do this podcast. Steve from Sex And The City pays women for the pleasure of removing their left legs so that he can "appreciate" their "improved" bodies. If this doesn't make you stop what you're doing and ask, "WTF?", I don't know what will. This show manages to impugn dentistry, cab drivers, Sikhism, car services, pigeon handlers, bike mechanics and especially (like especially especially) psychiatry, and yet it treats the potentially fraught subject of extreme body modification with a reasoned and compassionate touch. We, of course, dive into a variety of strange diversions including superfund site freeganism, what Melinda Warner is truly "into," and what you can—and cannot—get away with in a storage unit. This one is for the ages, folks. Enjoy!
Episode 38: That Is The Weirdest Wonk Boner I’ve Ever Heard Of (S15E8 October Surprise)
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? The answers to these and so many more burning questions can be had within the run of this installment.
Episode 34: It Was a Beige Turtleneck, So It Really Made Him Look Like a Human Penis (S13E7 Russian Brides)
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 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 24: The Thin Blue Line Between Order And Suburban Police (S14E11 Beautiful Frame)
This week the randomizer takes Josh and Adam to episode 11 from season 14 of SVU, "Beautiful Frame," which has SVU tangle with a corrupt den of dirty law enforcement officials from Suffolk County. During the long drive out to the suburbs, we meander down a variety of digressions: the history of "red lining" and the formation of the modern suburb, the various career paths of the cast of Malcolm In The Middle, and, of course, which Belizean city has the best tchotchke shops. Enjoy!
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 13: I Don’t Feel Like Wesley Crusher Could Take Care of Himself (S15E8 Military Justice)
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.