If one were to carve a Mount Rushmore of bad moms out of someone's holy mountain, Diane Venora's character from this SVU would certainly be on it. This lady sucks a lot. While we get deep into her antics, we also talk about Adam's sickness (spoiler alert: he shouldn't have gone to that Yankees game), Belizean airports, nonsexual hygge snuggling, trashcan chicken, and Kenny Rogers.

This week, The Randomizer selected "Lowdown," which features Fin's exquisite description of "down low" culture. Sadly, this episode goes so hard on inappropriate "humor" that Josh was forced to make a running count of things you wouldn't (and shouldn't) say on TV in 2022. As we break this down, you'll hear about the police riot on Adam's block, Kevin Brown's sinker, and the art of mise-en-scène. You won't, however, hear the nearly 50 minutes of wild digressions about dumplings, Kenny Rogers, Kelvin's muscle boys, and the Kinsey scale unless you subscribe to our Patreon.

Wherein the Munchie boys dive into an episode that treats schizophrenia with an altogether un-SVU-like degree of nuance. Along the way, we wrestle with the consequences of our actions as we are forced to issue the very first Munch My Benson correction thanks to listener, Kara, who noted that Connie Nielsen's accent shenanigans were explained in the show, and in the SVU Fandom wiki page. Josh dog sits, Adam gets into a fight with pharmacy employees, and we go extremely deep on the munchiest of topics: the mechanics of Casey Novak's softball swing, window screen installation, the origins of the Albanian language, the many, many failings of CSU Burt Trevor, and a whole lot more.

It's our 100th episode of Munch My Benson, and what better way to celebrate than with an episode of Law & Order: SVU that does not have Olivia Benson in it at all. In classic fashion, The Randomizer threw us a curveball and drew a Beckisode fronted by Connie Nielsen for our benchmark podcast which features a stand-out performance from apex-child-actor, Elle Fanning. Come along as we discuss primary nuclear strike targets, NXIVM, the correct name for the 2008 film Rambo, and projecting a 17-year-old Josh Brolin.

This week, the world's largest airline ensured that this episode could not be released on time. To all of the listeners whose Monday mornings were tragically impacted by this unfortunate event, we at Munch My Benson are truly sorry.

Sadly, the writing staff of Season 13 of SVU was absolutely unapologetic in thoroughly trashing the second largest city in the state that SVU calls home. We've seen this show look askance at lesser states and provinces across the continent, but the glee with which this episode implies that Buffalonians will stop at nothing to ensure that their own children grow up in unsafe homes is truly shocking. Josh and Adam, of course, talk early childhood education, examine the films of Satyajit Ray and Michael Cimino, describe bottomless brunches and lil' squeezers, and plumb the depths of Rollins's depraved backstory. Enjoy!

When The Randomizer chose the week's episode—Venom (S7E18)—listeners would be forgiven for thinking they might be embarking on an hour's worth of sub-par television, but they'd be wrong. This—the first half of Ludacris's voyage through SVU (we covered part 2 in Episode 51 of Munch My Benson, "You Can't Eat Ethan Hawke")—features some standout performances and wildly inappropriate content. The Munchie Boys obviously break it down in lurid detail and answer an assortment of essential questions: How to dig a shallow grave? Why are they still making courtroom dramas? What are Liam Neeson's most underrated films? And of course, how many times is too many times to say "nips out on a gurney?" This one will make you wish Tej Parker would open up an East Coast branch of his car-modding, bro-hugging crime syndicate. Enjoy!

This week, the Randomizer (thanks, Flett) blessed us with an unforgettable episode of Law & Order SVU ("Unorthodox" S9E13). It starts with an absolute bang and then careens madly between isolationist ultra-orthodox Jewish sects and porn addicted preteens. Of course, we Munchers go even further afield as we question the existence of an upper peninsula, rank our favorite ape films, and uncover the supernatural engine that powers Casey Novak's courtroom success. This is truly an episode worth savoring. Enjoy!

When an episode of Law & Order: SVU contains such shockingly racist characters that Adam and Josh have to ask themselves what audio they can actually pull for an episode of this podcast that revels in wild inappropriateness, you know you’re dealing with some next-level racism. “Hate” (S5E13) has so much wrong with it that even the Munchie Boys were uncomfortable. While reckoning with the racism in every nook and cranny of this episode, the topics of fuel oil, man’s odd relationship with fire, the virtues of accurately mining stereotypes to avoid hiccups, reclusive authors' semi-famous sons, and how Captain America’s racist son reframes his legacy. If ever an episode needed a trigger warning, this one does for the discussion of anti-Muslim racism and a clip pulled from the show for begrudging reference which neither Adam nor Josh felt particularly good about pulling.

Has your edging fetish turned you from a respectable snitch into a radical eco-terrorist? Are you curious about the lengths Law and Order: SVU would go to torture the poor extras whose unheralded and underpaid work transforms a film set into a living vibrant world? Are you dying to know what Medical Examiner Warner did during her year in Paris? For the answers to these questions, plus tips on how to decorate your anarchist bookstore, tune in to this week's Munch My Benson where we break down "Informed" (Season 8, Episode 1), which sees Olivia Benson screw up a rape case so badly that she ends up being forced by an implausibly accented Marcia Gay Harden to live with a bunch of bomb-throwing hippies for nearly three months. Please rate and review the podcast, and thanks so much for listening!

In this exercise in somewhat effective stunt-casting, Stabler gets pitted against his untethered analog, a rage-fueled annihilator of tween girls played by erstwhile star actor Matthew Modine. Yes, this week, the Munchie Boys took on “Rage” (SVU S6E17). In a structurally odd episode that pits rager against rager in a ticking-clock, nearly locked-room scenario until it suddenly isn’t and renders much of what preceded moot, Stabler tries to nab the one who got away while confronting his own anger management issues. Don’t worry, there’s also talk of malodorous food PsyOps, truly pornographic whistling, edging, the nature of the San Fernando Valley, Modine’s inability to shed his yuppie prick veneer, and so much more.

We got to watch an all-time Law And Order SVU ("Undercover" Season 9, Episode 15) which sees Olivia Benson go undercover in a notorious women's prison in order to catch a serial rapist corrections officer. Along the way, we discuss the proper way to light an upskirt be-ankled panties shot, '90s nepotism star Barry Van Dyke, and the meaning of the phrase "iron kitten." We also talk about a few of the more famous residents of New York State's Bedford Hills Correctional Facility For Women. This is one of the standout episodes of the entire series, and though it mostly deals in shocking trauma, the writers and producers of this wonderful show found ways to sprinkle in lighthearted dick jokes throughout this heart-pounding hour of television. Enjoy!

We follow up last week's nuanced depiction of the damage American prisons cause to those stuck inside with a wholly different take on the subject in "Escape" (S5E11). In this SVU, two ex cons buy their way out of the joint, galavant around the town in drag, and take Olivia Benson to the Jersey Shore. We meet one of Liv's former paramours, decide whether or not unfortunate early '00s fashion choices were the result of America's imperialist adventures overseas, and listen as Adam summons an ancient one.

Because Father's Day now lasts an entire week, the Randomizer gifted us with another standout bad dads episode of Law & Order: SVU ("Clock" S8E2), wherein a young, but not criminally young, girl with mosaic Turner's Syndrome concocts an elaborate scheme to run away from her Canada curious father and into the arms of her proto-pedo lover. Of course we have plenty to talk about including abhorrent British comedy troupes and Yankees games from the early mid-Aughts. Munch Away!

As always, Law and Order: SVU manages to make a heartbreaking story ("Closet" S9E16) of one man's loss of his husband, his career, his brain function, and his celebrity into fodder for the Munchmill. We discuss our least favorite Oscar winners, lament the demise of office culture, shine the spotlight on a particularly bad grandpa, and spend entirely too much time discussing a character that is never seen nor directly heard from in the episode. Please rate and review and support other Indie Podcasts!

When questions like “If I die, and there’s a hot tub, can I be made a saint?” get posed, you know things got weird. This installment in Munchstory has Adam and Josh covering “Streetwise” (SVU - S9E11) like a blanket on a mattress--or a high society douchebag, apparently. This episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has it all. Mae Whitman going from glitz to gutter and back again. STUNTS! Adam Beach. A bum family complete with a pretty messianic, serial killing, cult leader dad who isn’t afraid to go big. True Munchies will enjoy the divergent rides through high society, defunct Swedish automotive companies, the conditions necessary for beatification and the Christianization of the Welsh, defunct NYC music institutions, the nature of paintball, and much, much more.

Law & Order: SVU is often salacious and upsetting and certainly problematic, but rarely does an episode—”Brotherhood” S5E12—reference foreign object anal penetration a whopping 22(!) times. Obviously, for the love of all things good, please be warned that we will be talking A LOT about that triggering subject. Of course we will also be discussing exotic woods, waste water treatment facilities, Lutheran traffic patterns, Josh's COVID scare (he's negative), and Adam's salad days. You're not going to forget this one anytime soon, and you will NEVER look at a wooden handle the same way again.

When proceedings kick off with a pooch gleefully dragging discarded afterbirth down the sidewalk, you know you’re in for something special. “Taboo” (S7E14) delivers on that opening promise, proffering some of the wildest, most disgusting things seen in the Munchie annals. As Adam and Josh frolic through the filth, they talk pseudocyesis, the history of Bellevue, bus fight Twitter, and the epidemic of incest in the U.S. And speaking of incest, wow, does this installment of SVU find a way to make something already SUPER disturbing mindblowingly revolting. This episode is so nuts, you’ll feel the Unit needs to interview you afterwards. Hold onto your butts coz this one is BONKERS.

While we felt like the title of SVU season 8 episode 22 "Screwed" was a little on the nose, it did provide ample ground for the usual Munchie business. We brainstorm a potential series of extreme #Beachhead fanfic, Adam casts his dog's voice actor, and Josh proposes an elaborate conspiracy by the show runners against their own cast members. Enjoy!

Strap in for a wild ride, Munchies. This episode of SVU—”Ritual” (S5E14), featuring Emmy-winner Michael Emerson—starts in a park with an apparent ritual sacrifice and dives head first into the world of child slavery, complete with a Fin undercover op and possible Upper East Side blue-hair slave auctions. Along the way, Adam and Josh practice Santeria, lament the stolen Elgin Marbles, assess what jewelry screams slave owner, and wonder what Adam’s glasses being donned by a gruesome murderer means for him. They also finally chat about the 1980 exploitation chase flick, Night of the Juggler.

Another week another problematic turn from the heinous minds at Law & Order: SVU. This time we are watching "Rockabye" (S7E9), an episode which upsets Max, poses numerous questions about the cutlery skills of a mid-Atlantic runaway sex worker, and forces Josh to make highly problematic threats against Billy Chenowith's awful Dad.