Episode 133: Elliot Can’t Get Drinks Because He Might Have HIV (S2E13 Victims)
The Munchie Boys tackled a tough one this week, as Stabler is forced to investigate the murder of an admittedly odious perp he'd locked up previously. If ever there were an episode that wallowed in the "you can't choose your victims" edict, it's this one. "Victims" also has some pretty big names in it to go along with some pretty rough pre-9/11 fashion and a Guardian Angels storyline that gives Adam a bit to talk about.
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 129: Man, This One Really Suffers from My Own Special Victims Unit Derangement Syndrome (S4E23 Grief)
Elliot meets another father of a daughter, only the other father's daughter just died in an alley having just been sodomized, meaning there's some sympathy pain for Stabes to experience. These fathers are both on a tear, and it's hard to say who does more damage in this one. Of course, there are tangents, including a dive into the NYPD's heinous brutality done unto Abner Louima, so hold onto your butts.
Episode 88: Kevin Arnold Is a Power Reassurance Rapist (S4E22 Futility)
When The Wonder Years ended almost 30 years ago, no one could have imagined the incredibly dark turn that Kevin Arnold's life would take. Yes, Mr. Arnold's death, Paul's going to Harvard, and Winnie to a long and successful career on the Hallmark Channel were all disturbing outcomes, but this is much worse. This SVU shows little Kevin Arnold beating, raping, and then re-victimizing women across the Upper West Side. This obviously provides tons of fodder for the Munch mill as we dig into a really great episode of television. We talk Jeopardy! prep, our favorite lawyer lover plot twists, and Josh takes us on a particularly unexpected trip through the shenanigans of the Warwick R.I. city council. Enjoy!
Episode 83: We’re Burning Through Pedos (S4E15 Pandora)
When proffered the box of “Pandora” (S4E15)—phrasing?—Josh and Adam were forced to deal with yet another episode of SVU wherein many children fell victim to an international cabal of pedos, complete with one getting to proudly espouse his party platform to the detectives of SVU and a network television audience. This one hurtles forward at breakneck speed, taking Elliot from New York to Prague and back before the final act has even started. Along the way, Adam and Josh marvel at the way that early SVU writers had no real concept of how computers and the internet worked, the defenestrations of Prague, the endless stream of actors who REALLY pass for pedos in the SVU stable, and the emergence of Zero Dark Stabler. We’ve said it many times previously, but the label definitely fits here—this one is wild.
Episode 66: Two Pages About Golden Showers (S4E5 Disappearing Acts)
The Randomizer gifted us with a wild Law & Order: SVU thrill ride featuring Hollywood legends Pam Grier and John Heard wherein a rape investigation leads Benson and Stabler into a massive federal investigation of some really really bad dudes. Do our heroes acquit themselves well in this complex and trying situation? No, not at all. Do we enjoy discussing Adam's time out on the town, Josh's former neighbors, a variety of big money scams, and, of course, speculating about the standards and practices meeting that let the first 6 minutes of this gem burst through the cracks? Obviously.
Episode 48: I Made This Kid With My Sperm (S3E3 Stolen)
After Adam tells of his travails in the recent Texas winter storm and ensuing power outages, the Munchie Boys get down to business, reckoning with the ghosts of series past while persevering through an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit featuring a robot child mimicking human emotion stuck in the strangest of custody battles in “Stolen” (S3E3). While dealing with a bonafide Cragenisode courtesy of his former partner Max Greevey’s cold case getting tossed in the microwave, Adam and Josh also dive into post-9/11 SVU credits, do some height detective work, walk the Appalachian Trail with Mark Sanford, and unearth a fictional Juris Doctor degree. They also follow up on last week’s promise to watch and talk about the late ‘90s truckin’ Swayze gem, Black Dog.
Episode 46: It Sucked That D-bag Rape Boy Was Gonna Be The Last Guy To Lay Pipe In McCallum County (S11E16 Witness)
Sometimes the Randomizer giveth; sometimes it taketh away. It’s sort of like SVU that way. This week it gave an episode that takes us all on a wild ride from a stairwell in Chelsea to the grim realities of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along the way, jealousy abounds, Benbot enjoy a romantic candlelit dinner, Adam breaks down the past 150 years of strife in the Congo, Amazing Grace and Chuck is deduced to have done some ripping from the headlines, no one wants to believe our victim—Lainie McCallum, played by Diora Baird—and a cut hand yields some unexpected outcomes. The Munchie Boys tackled “Witness” (S11E16), so hold on to your butts.
Episode 43: Another Second Unit Photoshoot Gone Wild (S11E8 Turmoil)
Though "Turmoil" (S11E8) was not the best SVU in the series, this slapped together melange of homoerotic fan service, intra-Stabler household drama, impossible travel times, and substandard professional ethics does provide the Munch My Benson boys with plenty of food for thought: Did Dickie Stabler kill Bin Laden? Just how many bodies did Elliot drop this episode? And, of course, is redemption even possible in this economy?
Episode 37: Our Job Is to Sit There and Enjoy It (S3E15 Execution)
The Munch My Benson Boys dive into yet another Season 3 ep of Law And Order: Special Victims Unit this week with "Execution" (S3E15), which forces us to confront a few disturbing questions: Can necrophilia be mundane? How did people choose a cable TV package in the early/mid 1990s? How much did Kristaps Porzingis break Knicks fans' hearts? And of course, how did Nic Cage's hair look so dang good in Con Air? Word of caution, this episode is extremely dark, even for SVU standards.
Episode 36: He Let Ed Teabag Him, Right? (S3E13 Prodigy)
In a true gem of an episode of SVU, The Randomizer spat out “Prodigy” (Season 3, Episode 13), which took Adam and Josh on quite the journey. Michael Pitt playing an apparent future serial killer and doing it spectacularly? Check. Continuing disparagement of van owners that cuts Adam to the bone? Check. Add the brainmelting first appearance of Mike Doyle as Not O’Halloran, staging victims in weird sexual poses so the perp can write about it for his prison masturbating buddies, the hazards of huffing Pam, and problematic content for days, and you’ve got the recipe for a truly special journey through the twisted darkness of the Dickwolf Universe.
Episode 35: 10 Hours Of Bone Sessions To Get To The Bones Bone Session (S3E17 Surveillance)
Emily Deschanel stars in Season 3 Episode 17 of SVU, Surveillance, which features a web of people who are all dangerously obsessed with the titular Bones star. This leads Josh and Adam down a litany of bizarre and digressive topics including, but not nearly limited to, Julio Cortazar, the best sexual positions for self-filming, David Boreanaz's bank account, and, of course, which instrument in the orchestra is the sexiest. Come along for a wild ride.
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 26: They Are Not Going To De-Sex Hargitay For The Sake Of An Undercover Operation (S4E12 Risk)
Contrary to Freud, sometimes a sandwich is just a sandwich. The sandwich that Olivia Benson eats at the denouement of "Risk" (Season 4 Episode 12), a rollicking tale a of yuppie coke king who improbably turns to wholesale mom slaughter, however, carries a heaping pile of lost innocence and love turned sour within its soggy buns. Join the Munch crew as we break down this truly bizarre gem. If you are curious about fall foliage, the John Cusack classic One Crazy Summer, or Tutuola scion Ken Randle's ability to drive the basketball, you have found the correct Law & Order: SVU podcast.
Episode 11: This Might Be the Rapiest Bar In New York City (S2E10 Consent)
Adam and Josh wrestle with GHB, a reality in which Benson was in a sorority, the continued mistreatment of the homeless, super rapey college bars staffed by enabling deviants, theorize the genesis of Christopher Meloni's entrée into Wet Hot American Summer, and apocryphal baseball lore which can only mean one thing: they watched "Consent," Episode 10 from Season 2 of Law & Order: SVU.
Episode 9: What Do You Propose, A Tumescence Exam? (S3E10 Ridicule)
The Randomizer gave the world "Ridicule" (Season 3, Episode 10) this week, and it's a magnificent gift. Featuring guest stars Paige Turco and Diane Neal as not Casey Novak, this one delves into the spicy world of male strippers and autoerotic asphyxiation while asking the age-old question: can a woman rape a man? What about three women, commonly called a rape troika? It's an episode for the whole family to enjoy, so do yourself a solid and watch and listen!
Episode 8: Sweet Talk, Sugar Mouth (S2E7 Asunder)
To quote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Into each life some rain must fall / Some days must be dark and dreary." In the life of Munch My Benson, S2E07 "Asunder" is one of those dark and dreary days. Though the subject matter is almost as grim as the acting, we hold our heads high as we break down the cringe-iest lines and the worst performances. Have you ever considered the efficacy of social distancing in the year 2000? Are you familiar with the lethal range of an airborne cast-iron skillet? Are you brave enough to play street ball against some bad cops? The MMB boys keep a stiff upper lip as they answer these eternal questions, and more.
Episode 6: It Was The Best Of Culkins, It Was The Worst Of Culkins (S5E2 Manic)
This week we watch "Manic," Season 5 Episode 2 of Law & Order: SVU. In it, Big Pharma, global capitalism, and a few incompetent middle school employees conspire to place a loaded hand gun in the deranged hands of one Rory Culkin. He humiliates then murders two of his bullies on the order of the voices in his head which belong to none other than the legendary carnival game and romantic comedy icon, Zoltar. We discuss important topics including revolutionary theory and whether or not this episode constitutes the peak of the extended Culkin universe. Come along for the ride. Be safe.
Episode 5: Who’s the Perfect Victim for a 90-pound Twerp Perp? (S4E19 Juvenile)
The Randomizer bestows upon us the gift of "Juvenile," Episode 19 from Season 4. The Unit faces a real doozy of a case when an unlikely pair of tweens breaks in to the improbable apartment/grow-house of a terminal cancer patient, who gets kid-raped and stabbed 38 times with a paring knife. As the investigation and trial proceed, we're exposed to the wonderful world of dumpster markers, azoospermia, and delicious ruminations on vomit, before being forced to reckon with the existential quandary of our times: who is the perfect victim for a 90-pound rapist?