quinimdb "Moral Orel" began as a clever and biting but formulaic religious satire by design, parodying the religious cartoons meant to teach young kids lessons about their faith. Each episode began by focusing on a rambling sermon given by Reverend Putty that Orel then follows to a literal fault, often causing havoc in the town, and then being "set straight" by a illogical and contradictory teaching from his alcoholic father after a beating. If this sounds very dark, that's because it is, but in the show it is all delivered in an absurd and comical manner, for the first season at least.Many of the episodes in the second season also follow this formula, especially many of the earlier ones, but a few times, we get a glimpse deeper into the lives and genuine desires of the characters. We see how Reverend Putty's desperate search for a woman pays off with his realization the importance of his existing family, and we see how doughy's neglect at home guides his need for acceptance from Orel, and several more of the characters' backgrounds. But we don't truly begin to see the darker, more serious side of the characters until the last two episodes: "Nature: Part 1" and "Nature: Part 2". During these two episodes (both dedicated to John Cassavettes), Clay, Orel's father, takes his son on his first hunting trip. Clay tries to force his son to kill an animal, but Orel can't bring himself to do it. After Clay takes matters into his own hands, killing and eating a hunting dog in a drunken haze, Orel finally realizes his father's flaws, resisting him more and more as Clay spirals into pure rage, climaxing when he unintentionally fires a shot at his son's leg. This is the moment that Orel begins to realize that his "superiors" have flaws just as any other human, and maybe he shouldn't blindly follow them without question. This is also the set up for the subversive third and final season, where they really began to experiment with the structure and tone of the show. From here, each episode centers around the depressing reality that every character in the town has been dealing with in the background as they shielded Orel from it. It often focuses on the build up to this hunting trip, exposing the deep psychological flaws in each character, even those with little to no screen time before this season. Not only this, but the animation improves drastically, becoming much more creative and just plain impressive. For instance, in one of my favorite moments from the entire series, in a FIRST PERSON STOP MOTION SHOT, we witness Clay walking through the halls of his home with a glass of whiskey in his hand after his hunting trip. Not only would a long-take, first person stop motion shot take incredible dedication, skill, and precision, but the scene they used this technique in is essentially flawless, perfectly showing the numbness and void of emotion in Clay's (and his wife's) life. To top it off is a song by The Mountain Goats, a band whose songs are used more than once in this season to great effect to show their hopeless condition of life.Their loneliness, self-loathing, desperation, desires, repressed feelings and memories are all laid out for us, until we realize why Orel hasn't gotten any proper guidance or care: everyone else was so caught up in their own problems. However, despite its bleakness, the show does end with a hope that maybe someone like Orel can actually mature after realizing what those around him did wrong, creating a happy and meaningful family despite the example that those around him set for him.

coralnathan Words cannot even begin to describe how much love I have for this show. In the twenty short years that I have been on this planet I haven't found a show/film that stuck with me as much as Moral Orel. The characters, the story, the always witty script, the quirky stop- motion style - I love it all! Orel Puppington is such a likable character and you can't help but grow fond of him. The show is absolutely hysterical but be warned: it does turn darker towards the end of the second season. You may be taken aback by how intense, real and raw things get. As the show goes on you learn more about the citizens of Moralton and their backstories - as well as a continuous progression of Orel's story and his character development. The rabbit hole goes deep. The whole show is a masterpiece. It never ceases to be charming even during the painful parts. A must watch.

zetes Created by Mr. Show alumnus Dino Stamatopoulos (best known now for playing the character Alex "Starburns" Osbourne on Community; his Mr. Show alums Jay Johnston and Scott Adsit (best known for his role on 30 Rock) are also major artistic contributors) created this stop-motion puppet show for Adult Swim. It's a parody of Davey and Goliath, a religious cartoon from the '60s. Oral is a young boy living in the very Christian town of Moralton, Statesota (located in the exact center of the United States, between Missouri and Kansas). He eagerly wants to do right by God, and tries to take the advice of his reverend, his parents and his elders, but that advice always leads to horrible situations (in the first three episodes he raises the dead, who of course attempt to eat everyone's brains, he gets a bunch of women pregnant and he gets addicted to crack). This is the basic structure of the first season and most of the second season. At the beginning, it reminded me a lot of South Park. Like South Park, it's funny, but ultimately cheap. In the second season, the writing grew a lot sharper, but, as it goes on, something happens. Even in the first season, it's revealed that there is a lot of darkness and misery underneath the adult characters' positive, Christian exteriors. But Stamatopoulos and his writers add a lot of depth in that second season, and they do a lot of world and character building. It starts to get pretty interesting, and then comes the final two episodes of the second season, where Orel, always an innocent before, learns the truth about his father: that in reality, he is an abusive, alcoholic *beep* While these episodes are very funny, there is an unprecedented emotional depth for any animated series I've ever seen. It's absolutely devastating, and it just kind of left me shaking. And then comes the third season. Unable to move past the season finale of Season 2, the first 10 episodes of 13 (each billed as Episode 1 of 13 and so forth), it weaves the complex story of Orel's family and the other citizens of Moralton in the days leading up to the hunting trip, often focusing on just one sentence a character speaks during those two episodes and expanding on why they would say that, the backstory of that sentence's existence. Only in Episode 10 of 13 do we move to the events after the hunting trip, dealing with its fallout until we reach the season's and series' enormously powerful final moment. It's one of the most complexly structured seasons of television I've ever seen. It's an unbelievably enormous achievement, especially considering how slight the first few episodes of the series are (honestly, if I were watching this live, I probably wouldn't have bothered seeking it out after that first season; each episode only being 11.5 minutes long - yes, it does all this in 11.5 minute installments - it wasn't much of a commitment). I am not at all kidding when I say this turned out to be the best thing I've watched all year. I have not stopped thinking about it for a minute since I finished it a few days ago, and I have a hard time not weeping whenever it comes to mind. The night I finished it, I almost couldn't go in to work. I felt too emotionally exposed. The biggest tragedy of it all is that only that first, fairly mediocre season made it onto DVD. They never did release the second and third seasons. There are bits and pieces of the series on Youtube, and you can watch the hunting episodes, entitled Nature, as well as the three episodes which follow it, on Adult Swim's website, but you can't purchase it (though, of course, you can find it elsewhere, not legally). Supposedly they are working on a follow-up special for Christmas this year, so maybe that will spur them to release the entire series. Any way you can see this, though, it's worth your time.

Mr. Neutron Most Christians will probably be severely offended by this show, but that's part of its charm. Its offensiveness is riding on the shoulders of an innocent little boy who simply doesn't know any better. He misinterprets others' advice and chaos ensues. The same could be said about religion itself. What I find so continually compelling about this show however, is that it dares to be different. The line-up on Adult Swim has swiftly shifted to gore porn as of recent (Metalocalypse and Robot Chicken being perfect examples), but Orel focuses its sights on the way religion controls people, changes them. Lying beneath the bitter sentiments however, is something even better: character development. Throughout the series, we see the various demented characters of Oralton for who they really are. This really kicks off in season three (which is currently nearing its end) and it's truly gripping. What you thought were one-off humor characters in the first season are revealed to be deeply troubled human clay-things in the second. Speaking of, the series gets quite dark at times, and with only the personalities of the characters... Yes, things can be dark without buckets of blood. But in the little town of Oralton, Statesota, we see much more than a bewildered mass. We see a portrait of the American psyche. (other psycho-analytical jargon here)