With a melange of Ripped from the Headlines story points peppering the subject of this week’s installment, Season 5, Episode 8 “Abomination,” there is A TON for Adam and Josh to talk about, including Matthew Shepard, Lawrence v. Texas, the odious Westboro Baptist Church, the sham that is conversion therapy, and Oscar-nominated actor George Segal. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of talk about what really matters to you: hypotheses on the possibly sketchy operations of East Village gay bars, the evolution of acceptable language in television and film, how insanely problematic the movies of our youth are, in-depth analysis of characters’ eating habits, and the warped mindset created by the repeated ingestion of the general insanity of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

For the 28th installment of Munch My Benson, the Randomizer forced Josh and Adam to watch an SVU that featured very little in the way of Law or Order but a whole lot of Mayhem. That's right folks, this episode, "Chasing Demons" (S19E14) brings SVU's favorite liability insurance pitchman, Dean Winters, back into the fold for 45 minutes of questionable acting choices. As ever, we digress. Does your mom's favorite SVU podcast feature spicy hot melon takes, comparative studies of European legal systems' wardrobes, or ruminations on the divine nature of the trinity? Didn't think so.

The Randomizer doled out an episode well-suited for the pandemic in which we find ourselves with this week’s installment, “Retro” (S10E5). Martin Mull guest stars as a quack doc who pied pipes his followers to their AIDS-denying deaths. Along their dimwitted death march, we learn about a Gambian dictator who “cured” HIV/AIDS with a secret blend of herbs, revel in dunking on Christian Scientists, and explore how to avoid getting toxoplasmosis, all while dodging the cries of infants contained both within this episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and in real life.

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. 

The Randomizer thrust Shiri Appleby back into Munchstory for the second time in three months in "Dearly Beloved," Episode 19 of Season 20. If you want an SVU where the entire field of psychotherapy called into question by a perpetrator/victim combination for whom the concept of truth is akin to cheap toilet paper you stole from your job, then this is the episode for you. Do good therapists tell their patients/victims that they suffer from erotic rape fantasy disorder? Short answer: no. Long answer: well, how's about you take a listen?

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!

What happens when an accent choice derails an SVU where the initial crime is wrapped up in an open-and-shut murder at minute 19 and becomes a bizarre cold-case-cum-morality-play sans benefit of flashback? Well, the Randomizer selected “Persona” (Season 10, Episode 8), so Adam and Josh found out the hard way. For far from the first time in the run of Munch My Benson, a foreign-born actor plays fast and loose with a wavering accent. This time, the offender was two-time Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn, whose presence pulls a certain big gun down from the bench to settle a 34-year-old score. Along the way, the question as to whether this feminist text passes the Bechdel test, the greater concerns raised by Liv’s proclivity towards inappropriate actions, an exploration of just what “vile thing” meant in 1974-speak, and an alternate reality in which Benson DuBois chases down perps are all discussed.

Law And Order: SVU frequently takes the viewer to uncomfortable places, and co-hosts Josh and Adam are no strangers to the depths of the criminal imagination. Still, they were not fully prepared for this vertiginous decent into the tawdry wrinkled world of swinging elder sex. If you want an in-depth discussion of the ethics of mercy killing, the NYPD’s somewhat lax emergency first aid standards, and whether or not one should speak to the police while wearing nothing but a fully open robe and a smirk, then you've come to the right podcast. Benson, Stabler and the rest of the squad are joined by stars Jane Krakowski and Anthony Rapp for "Bound" (Season 5, Episode 23). This will definitely leave you "satisfied." 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.

Adam and Josh rolled the dice this week, and the dice gave them "Glasgowman's Wrath" (season 16, episode 6), which might be the only Halloween episode in the SVU catalogue. Who or what is a Glasgowman? Why is he wrathful? Is it GGG to act out a violent tawdry rape fantasy in a public space? How does any of this pertain to legendary plane crasher Sully Sullenberg? Take a (not 500 mile) walk with us as we breakdown this particularly bizarre example of the modern police procedural.

Thomas Jefferson once declared coffee “the favorite drink of the civilized world,” but the wild world of coffee trading on display in Season 9, Episode 18, “Trade” would seem to imply that it’s also the favorite drink of loaded scumbag fathers who look eerily like the pater familias in the Christian-propaganda family dramedy 7th Heaven. In the O’Halloraniest SVU in Munchstory, Adam and Josh hit the mother lode. When a father knocking up his son's fianceé is far from the most shocking aspect of the episode, you know you've struck gold. This glorious, wildly inappropriate pun fest delivers the goods and then some. Along the way, we examine the dodgy tax haven that is Liechtenstein, marvel at the suspension of the laws of physics, wish we were on the second unit shooting this installment, and get incensed about the show's misunderstanding as to how the coffee trade actually works. Strap yourselves in, and get ready for a jolt because Reverend Camden was let loose, and the ensuing havoc knows no bounds.

It is a wonder that "Underbelly" Season 8, Episode 7 passed NBC's Standards and Practices Department for any number of reasons. It sexually objectifies real-life 14-year-olds, it is extremely racist, it makes offhand references to piss play, and it takes us on a mind-bending Pynchonian journey to an interzone where The Wire both exists and does not exist depending on the exact placement of John Munch on the Eastern Seaboard. Join Josh and Adam as they unravel a bizarre case involving Stabler, Munch, Sister Peg, Beck (wait who?), and the cast of Season 4 of The Wire and learn about vintage Ferrari pricing, chemical spills in Nunavut, and the mating behaviors of 40-something divorced Dads.

So this week the boys at Munch My Benson found out what happens when superheroes—yes, you read that correctly—infiltrate wild world of Law & Order: SVU: utter #$%&ing insanity. Yep, we watched S13E19 “Street Revenge,” and it’s probably safe to say that we haven’t watched a weirder one than this. On this journey through the absurd, we marvel at the brazen disregard for copyright law, the nonsensical and likely unsanitary world of brick chicken, and actors’ embellished CVs while exploring the New York outdoor basketball scene and the sad existence of real-life superheroes.

Between raging infernos, rank corruption, riotous anger, and rampant stupidity, the world is a challenging place, but co-hosts Josh and Adam have "been to the mountaintop" and aren't concerned about any of that right now. Folks, we just watched a pantheon tier Law & Order: SVU, "Hooked" Episode 15 from Season 6. Hayden Panettiere and her dead friend Lisa cut a swath of sexual devastation leading from a Queens clothing boutique straight into hearts and minds of Munch Heads everywhere. From horned-up stargazers and rage-crying dads to sex bracelets and "a little girl-on-girl action," this episode has something for everyone.

Scarred by a gruesome SVU case ripped from even more grisly headlines, Adam and Josh trudge through the murk of “Hunting Ground” (Season 13, Episode 15), which forces them to get familiar with the yet-to-be caught Long Island serial killer. While exploring the most devastating ep in Munchstory thus far, the topics of Amaro’s olfactory prowess, the chance that he’ll get a thirst for blood, the hazards of Longview, and the nuanced but tangled mess that was the Backpage are all covered. Come along for a journey through the darkness. We’ve got the flashlights.

It's a postmodern joyride for our hosts this week, as Adam and Josh confront one of the stranger episodes of Law & Order: SVU, "Pretend" episode 21 from season 8. Storylines are layered on top of each other like a fresh spanakopita, and various meta-narratives are exposed: Is casting a 25-year-old who can pass as a teenager to play a 28-year-old who passes for 16 a function of the plot or an indictment of the entire entertainment industry? Can luchador and extreme wrestling mix? Will Adam ever get a quiet moment again? Add in gimp masks, grief nuts moms, and sex offenders rights activists ,and you'll begin to appreciate the level of madness that awaits within.

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.

In an alleyway on the Upper West Side, there is a portal to realms that lie beyond human comprehension. Of course, the dedicated detectives of the Special Victims Unit do nothing to investigate this mystery. They also neglect to investigate the sudden, shocking death of a mostly innocent man. In fact, it’s not clear that there is a proper investigation going on here at all. Still, Adam and Josh do their level best to reckon with “this insane fever dream of an episode” called “Blast,” Episode 13 from Season 7.

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.

This week, Adam and Josh tackle a bonafide Munchisode (Law & Order: SVU Season 1, Episode 20, "Remorse"), one where John Boy's feelings are on full display and directed at the victim, a local news anchor played by Jennifer Esposito. Wrestling with emotions and contending with delightfully tactless bomb squad techs, the ground between bizarre Czech-to-English guidebooks and the proper way to puke in a toilet that's not your own is covered.