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!

This week’s entry into the annals of Munchstory—SVU, S21E5, “At Midnight In Manhattan”—sent Adam and Josh caroming between three different stories in a rare exercise in single-weekend, multi-case, mom-card trumping storytelling, heavily featuring Carisi and Kat learning the ropes on their respective new jobs. Along the way, they decry the misidentification of doors, lament casting miscues, weigh the virtues of manners in new environs, and work their way through the indignity of seeing a slew of rich men’s knees. So come for the shoe-shaming, and stay for the nap chat whilst getting your Munch on.

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.

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.

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.

Coming off back-to-back Bad Dad eps, the Randomizer gifted the Munchie Boys with a helluva SVU featuring Oscar-nominee Stephen Rea in a truly spectacular guest performance in an episode featuring a slew of great acting and seriously interesting direction. This week’s installment was “Solitary” (S11E3), and it’s one of the most existentially introspective and unique shows that has fallen into our laps. And of course, judging by the title of this week’s episode, other weirder stuff also got discussed, including Elliot’s extramarital dip into formicophilia, a roach and its wrangler getting jobbed out of residuals, tide charts and greater New York water temperatures, and narrowly averted wartime disasters. If we’re talking about how lots of people should have won Emmys for this episode, it’s a special 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!

For Father’s Day, the Randomizer decided to troll dads everywhere with a tale of woe and trauma that sure makes one father look AWFUL. We watched Redemption in Her Corner (S21E13). Don’t worry though because plenty of other people get some stink on them too because this is Law & Order: SVU, after all. As per usual, Adam and Josh go down innumerable rabbit holes—trying to figure out just what Liv’s birthday actually is, wondering what Barba was doing in Iowa investigating election fraud for primaries that don’t exist, the origins of the boxing for fitness craze, and the origins of Italian soups. Fathers everywhere should listen to remind them that there are a lot of bad dads out there, and they should work to make sure they’re not one of them.

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!

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.

This week the Munchie boys watched "Counselor, It's Chinatown" (S21E7) a wildly inappropriate Law and Order: SVU, which has Josh and Adam careen from such wildly disparate topics as: Is noted scumbag Chris D'Elia is a cardigan guy? Which professions suffered most during the Chinese Cultural Revolution? And, does the NYPD have an undercover dog requisition service? We'll rub and tug our way to the bottom of these and many, many more questions. Sadly, due to climate change, there is a lot of Max on this one.

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.

What do the business of sports, Adam's email inbox, Stockton California pizza chains, and the contents of Amanda Rollins's stately pleasure dome have in common? Well, they all come up in our especially tangent prone rundown of "Hunt, Trap, Rape and Release" (S22E7) Munch My Benson's first taste of SVU Season 22. Along the way, we rate the loudest blouses in SVU, the greatest challenges in home laundry, and the least believable cast members of Law & Order: Criminal Intent among many, many other topics.

The most beautiful thing about Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is that it’s provided a truly insane platform for some of the most inspired stunt-casting in television history. Not only is “Slaves” (Season 1, Episode 22) a sterling example of what SVU can do in this arena; it’s the first foray into that arena for the show and blazed a helluva trail for any who followed this ‘80s Brat Packer. If you didn’t know you needed to see your beloved star of Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie’s Andrew McCarthy portray an exacting maniacal sadistic sexual psychopath, take our word for it, you need to see it here. Come and check out Andy Mac’s Crash-parry in the McCarthy/Spader kink-off because this is some next level insanity. This is MUST-WATCH SVU.

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.