Picking up where we left off in MMB 219, we had a SUPER bad dad who was just found not guilty of ummm, SAing his son to show him what a real man is. The Munchie Boys were left to wonder what fresh hell awaited them upon returning to this foul ground in a second part that seemed unnecessary, and this one did not disappoint in terms of exceeding their already low expectations. There are bad episodes of SVU, and then there's this week's installment, which achieves lows hitherto reached only once before.

There are bad dads, and then there’s the one played by Dylan Walsh in the two-parter to kick off Season 20 of Law & Order: SVU. Be prepared for some gnarly stuff. Also, be prepared to watch the seasoned detectives on this unit have no idea how to investigate crimes they’ve been investigating for decades. At least we get some pretty hawt Stone action in the cold open…

Responding to a grisly crime scene, the Unit are called upon to investigate the murders of a father, daughter, and son, who were stabbed a bunch of times while they slept in their Upper West Side brownstone. As the case unfolds, a team of SVUs who've literally seen every horrible thing known to humankind, act shocked that a mother could murder her whole damn family to protect them from descending into the middle class.

Along the way, the Munchie Boys encounter characters who've been established for many years acting in ways that they wouldn't, fake NASCAR fandom, and a very bad mom/lawyer. Oh, and the episode forces one of them to do a particularly disturbing Google search for the umpteenth time in the history of this podcast.

This week we meet a sex cult based in a mansion located north of Manhattan, so you know we are getting deep into a NXIVM-based, ripped-from-the-headlines SVU. Along the way, we talk knife handling, record collections, elite-level badminton, and extremely high-end security cameras. Also, Rollins is extremely pregnant (again), and this perp can smell the Al Pollack inside of her.

Both Josh and Adam were a little sick when they recorded this one, but not nearly as sick as the twisted minds inside Michael Chernuchin’s SVU writers’ room who crafted this byzantine scheme wherein a 13-year-old girl convinces her 15-year-old sister to murder their own father, so she can become adopted by and live with the love of her life, a 30-something weirdo who lives down the hall who reads Shakespeare with her. Obviously, the Munchie Boys are forced to confront The Bard among many, many other topics including the real reason no one on SVU orders food at the Square Diner and the many spellings of “Catherine.”

When we asked our Patrons 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.

Why does Rollins hate sex workers? Why is Wayne Knight only in this episode for two minutes? Why did they commit zero screen time to showing why the perp did what he did? Why did they rip this story from the headlines to inelegantly wedge trans rights into the final third of the show? We watched "Service" from Season 19, and ideally there would be answers to all of those questions, but the Season 19 qualifier is all you actually need to know. There may not be answers to your questions. Such is life in Season 19 of SVU.

When we watched the conclusion to the two-part Season 19 finale ("Remember Me Too" Episode 24), we might have taken the opportunity to research the migration patterns of monarch butterflies or the structure of the Sinaloa Cartel or the various degree programs at Gonzaga were this a standard, functional installment of SVU. Instead, we were treated to a mind-melting melange of unbelievable plot lines, inconceivable character motivations, and abysmal acting. Was it good? Obviously not. Did we have fun watching and then excoriating this complete and utter waste of network resources? You bet we did.

What happens when the season from which light cannot escape—SVU’s 19th—bestows upon the world a two-part season finale? An unintelligible, unmitigated disaster. Reality and common sense fold in on themselves, and we’re all left to try to make sense of the hellish mess that is “Remember Me” (S19E23). When character motivation, logic, and how technology actually works are entirely discarded, you are left with a confounding mélange of nonsensical dialogue and wild conclusions with nary a passing relationship to reality. Needless to say, this ride—a wild one for all the wrong reasons—gave the Munchie Boys plenty to discuss.

What happens when a new showrunner takes over Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and doesn’t understand the characters at all? Or how SVU tells stories? Well, the Randomizer selected “Gone Fishin’” (Season 19, Episode 1), so the Munchie Boys found out the hard way. Fin kidnaps a perp who absconded to Cuba? Dean Winters and Peter Jacobson coexist in an episode where Jacobson isn’t Bart Ganzel, Cassidy’s pimp employer from the Cragen waking up with a corpse in his bed three-part saga, challenging the strength of the space-time continuum? How ridiculous can a soundstage set that’s supposed to pass for Cuba get? The answers to these and so many other befuddling questions lie within the confines of this installment of Munch My Benson.