When last week's episode ended with Olivia Benson being taken captive by über-psychopath William Lewis, we knew that we'd be going deep into the darkest hour of SVU's storied run this week. This is 43 full minutes of torture porn so bleak and visceral that it's honestly shocking it aired on network television. Please prepare yourself for how messed up this episode is. Thankfully, Josh and Adam munch it up by talking about a diverse range of European arthouse classics you wouldn't want to bring a date to, our coffeeshop orders, and whether or not Pizza Man exists within the Fur Humper Cinematic Universe. Oh, and lest we forget, Adam has an outlandishly bold theory which just might change the way you look at Olivia Benson forever. Enjoy!

The Randomizer decided that everyone needed to wallow in the darkness of the William Lewis Saga again, this time starting at the beginning with “Her Negotiation,” the season finale of Season 14 complete with cliffhanger leaving our hero Olivia Benson in a very dark place. This obviously means the Munchie Boys have to deal with fur-humping, Plein Air Painters, the life's work of Frederick Law Olmstead, and the shooting star that was Matt Harvey's early baseball career. Oh, and a pastiche serial killer drawing from some of the darkest imaginable sources.

Adam and Josh wrestle with a high-profile headline rip as Reasonable Doubt casts Bradley Whitford as the Woody Allen/Roman Polanski analog in an episode that doesn't do a particularly good job of establishing what its title might suggest it should: Reasonable Doubt. Rollins and Amaro don’t believe women, a faux celebrity couple act out the Woody/Mia divorce virtually note for note, and anti-Tibetan racism runs amok. In other words, SVU still SVUs. Adam looks into the Roman Polanski rape case and the victim and poses the ideal solution for what the US Government should do with the frozen real estate of Russian oligarchs, while Josh wonders whether this episode acts in tandem with the one that follows it in sequence to mete out some revenge on The West Wing. Y’know, Munchie stuff.

The Munchie Boys pick up where they left off last week, trudging through the murk as Ray’s tall brother faces the fallout from having been charged as a serial rapist while the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association possibly threatens Barba’s life for having the temerity to come after one of their guys. This fallout includes the first—and thus far, only—time an officer on the Unit dies in the line of duty, which gives Adam and Josh quite a bit to mull over while wondering why the stakes were lowered so much before offing him. Any episode that has Chekhov’s gun go off while also not having Chekhov’s gun go off means there’s going to be plenty of plot discussion to be had. There are also plenty of discussions about the typically insane things that SVU forces one to reckon with, namely intimidation wizards, phantom door-locking chicanery, the hilarity of needing apple boxes in hostage shoots, and much, much more.

Hot on the heels of an episode that nearly broke our rating scale, the Munchie Boys watched Part 1 of a two-parter featuring Ray Romano's kooky brother Robert from the hit turn-of-the-century sitcom for olds, Everybody Loves Raymond. Fans of that show will remember that the actor in question, Brad Garrett, is really, REALLY tall. This causes the kind of continuity problems that only SVU can create. We're obviously talking about complex genital geometry problems. We would, of course, be remiss if our discussion stayed on topic, so expect to hear about Chinese New Year, more car talk from Josh, Rikers Island, and Predator.

Having drawn the all-timer “Beast’s Obsession” (S15E20) this week, the Munchie boys reckon with the Unit reckoning with Sgt. Olivia Benson reckoning with an escaped William Lewis, in quite possibly the torture-porniest episode of SVU in its storied history. With one of the most infamous perps in the 23-year-and-counting history of the show heinously raping, disfiguring, and dropping bodies left and right, Adam and Josh are left to watch in horror as Liv is once again shown to only be able to have a sex life in which violence is a key component and as featured extras are ignominiously and exploitatively corpsed for what they hope was at least SAG scale. They also lament the end of two acting careers before they’d really been able to begin, as two very young females were put through the violently sexually inappropriate grinder to further the horrific legend of Liv’s biggest tormentor.

As always, Adam and Josh veer off course with reckless abandon, exploring such varied topics as the job prospects for audition-shy mandolinists in NYC, the proper placement of dream catchers, why this show is so clearly anti-Bang energy drink, whether it’s gauche to lay the groundwork for an extramarital affair while working a protection detail, and Adam’s personal bridge rankings and grocery store journey through New York. So strap in for a wild ride, as Liv goes is on the bullet train to hell and we're all passengers alongside her.

Yet another Season 19 episode of SVU leaves the Munchie Boys scratching their heads wondering in just what world is this even occurring. Opening with an improbable YouTuber montage and having the case of the week closing with a full seven minutes of run time remaining to open the door for an SVU lyceum at a high school, this week’s 13 Reasons Why-inspired episode (Season 19, Episode 4 “No Good Reason”) is operating at one of the strangest frequencies we’ve encountered. This one forces Adam and Josh to reckon with vlogging that makes Eighth Grade seem totally comfortable, how and when they’re going to have to get a ChatSlam account for the podcast, and the murky demise of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell.

This week, Josh and Adam are thrust into a terrifying world where the laws of physics and mankind are tossed aside without hesitation. That world is called Chicago. Our SVU for this week is sandwiched in between an episode of Chicago Fire (S3E7 “Nobody Touches Anything”) and a Chicago P.D. (S2E7 “They’ll Have to Go Through Me”). While one does not need to watch either of these to enjoy our SVU, we obviously dove into the deep end with a fun-loving crew of Vegas-visiting, zumba-instructing, bounty-hunting firefighters and then waded through the muck with a morally dubious band of police officers. It provided us with a veritable matryoshka doll of tangents within tangents as we break down all the action from nearly 3 hours of television. We talk Shirley Chisholm and the Chelsea Piers. We speculate about the kind of person who gets a Joe Paterno tattoo in 2021, and Josh gets Chicago pilled.

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!

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.

When the Randomizer selects a late-season SVU, there is often a concern that sets in that we might not be getting the best of the insanity that SVU has to offer. That concern was UNFOUNDED with regards to “Motherly Love” (S18E10)—which is a banger in every sense of the word. After having seen nearly 500 episodes of SVU and recorded 77 episodes of a podcast about the show, it’s safe to say that the Munchie Boys have been subjected to some unimaginably shocking things, yet this one still dropped their jaws with its brazen impropriety.

So listen as Adam and Josh revel in a truly disturbing exploration of motherhood in its darkest form. This episode is as good an exemplar as any when trying to describe why this podcast exists.

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.

This week’s selection is Law & Order: SVU’s swipe at the anti-vax movement—“Granting Immunity” (S16E19)—which puts the vulnerable Baby Doe in the path of a measles outbreak spawned by the casual dismissal of science by rich dick Tribeca parents who clearly know more than epidemiologists and have conspired to circumvent New York’s mandated vaccinations for all students. This leads the Munchie Boys to investigate just what started this anti-vax MMR-causes-autism nonsense that’s since metastasized in much more widespread and nefarious ways. Don’t worry, there’s also plenty of fun to be had, including (but not limited to) the virtues of Susie Essman, the horrors of opening montage music, the hilarious inappropriateness of filmed teenage sex parties, and the watercooler TV-watching habits of the dedicated detectives of the Special Victims Unit. Is this the scariest episode of SVU in Munchstory? Only one way to find out.

The Randomizer gave Josh the gift of a lifetime—an SVU featuring beloved Patriot alum Michael Chernus as Carisi’s BIL-to-be. “Parole Violations” (S16E17) is the rare episode where we get a fair amount of main character backstory that works. This is a fun one where Chernus’s Tommy Sullivan is being forced to bone his parole officer while his pregnant fiancée (Carisi’s sister, Bella, played by Marin Ireland) is buying enormous, infant-inappropriate teddy bears and getting sonograms. As always, rabbit holes are ventured down, with time spent discussing the physiological functions of junkie junk, the college and pizza scene in Utica, and Staten Island cannoli. And, obviously, Patriot factors heavily into this episode.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Baby Doe gets kidnapped. Olivia Benson loses her shit.