If Popular is any indication, being a kid actor on SVU in the early days was not for the faint of heart. They’ll either have you playing a scumbag turning out your girlfriend for whichever old reason, or they’ll have you perping on your best friend’s girl who isn’t into you but who he instructed to bone you anyway despite the fact that you can’t stand him, or they’ll have you get turned out, contract gonorrhea, have your parents find out you’ve become ensnared in a beej-for-beer barter middle-school party scene, and have everyone say you are not attractive. No complexes developed here…

Faced with an episode with a helluva third act left turn, Adam and Josh reckon with a first-half A-plot borrowing heavily from the Terri-Rick saga in Degrassi before the second half shockingly grasps for a ripped-from-the-headlines story with a crooked juvenile court judge inspired by the nefarious goings-on in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. This leads to an exploration of both the Luzerne County Kids for Cash scandal and the grotesque systemic judicial overreach currently happening in Rutherford County, Tennessee.

Don’t worry, Josh and Adam find plenty of non-infuriating things to talk about, including the bizarre connection between Melinda McGraw and Alex Kingston, delightfully impossible photoshopping, Icelandic reproduction clearance apps, Lehman Brothers tearing the US economy to shreds, the origins of sexting, what other franchise Stuckey really belonged in instead of SVU, and (of course) Meloni’s rock-hard buns.

Come get some.