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incrediblysincere · 4 years

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Moral Orel: What to watch and what to avoid.

Moral Orel is a 2005-2008 satirical claymation comedy show that aired on Adultswim. It primarily deals with themes of Christianity, religious abuse, parental abuse, and loss of innocence. It’s not a show I would recommend everyone watch due to it’s extremely heavy themes in seasons 2 and 3, however it is also a very good show that includes:

- satirising religious abuse;

- the way Christianity is used as a justification for child abuse;

- portrayals of neglectful and abusive parents;

- alcoholism;

- a child growing up in this particular unhealthy environment;

- positive gay representation including:

- a gay or possibly bisexual man, struggling with his attraction towards a married man, and

- a young lesbian woman struggling with rejection and manipulation by a straight woman;

- an incredible soundtrack featuring the mountain goats.

However, the first season especially can be downright cruel at times in its frank portrayal of heavy subjects. The first season particularly feels more like a general dig at religion in a shallow way, while the later two seasons are much more well-rounded and thought out. Due to certain episodes in the first season, I am making a list of episodes that can be skipped in part or in whole due to triggering topics. (These episodes contribute little to the later storyline as each is more of a self-contained story than part of the greater narrative).

Every episode includes abuse or the implication of it, growing more explicit each season. There is also casual misogyny, homophobia, and antisemitism, all within the satire of Christianity and the typical tone of the show.

Season 1:

Episode 1: The Lord’s Greatest Gift (No need to skip)

It is a good introduction to the tone of the first season. Nothing too major, it features Orel (an 11 year old) bringing several people back from the dead because he believes they are throwing away the lord’s greatest gift. No need to skip, it is overall silly and inoffensive.

Episode 2: God’s Chef (skip)

This is the one I definitely recommend skipping. Orel is caught masturbating and misinterprets the subsequent telling-off. He proceeds to rape a lot of adult women in their sleep with a pastry bag. This episode is definitely one of the most tasteless episodes. Don’t watch if rape is a trigger, even though it’s not for me, it was still very hard to watch.

Episode 3: Charity (maybe skip)

This one is about Orel (once again) misinterpreting a sermon and buying crack, eventually becoming addicted to it. Skip if graphic depictions of drug addiction/making light of addiction isn’t your thing. This episode has some pretty funny moments, but it isn’t essential to watch.

Episode 4: Waste (maybe skip)

This episode features Orel misinterpreting a sermon and consequently drinking his own urine and selling it to his classmates as a sports drink. Skip if that sounds gross to you. It also features a quick joke about the school’s sports team being called “The Vanishing Americans” with a native american caricature as a mascot. (note: this also properly introduces what is imo, one of the best characters, Coach Stopframe.)

Episode 5: The Blessed Union (no need to skip)

In this episode we meet the other best character, Stephanie. She does give Orel a Prince Albert (penis) piercing, but feels bad about it afterwards. Skip if that sounds iffy to you, but overall the episode has a much softer tone as Stephanie is one of the only characters who genuinely cares about Orel.

Episode 6: Omnipresence (maybe skip)

This episode features Orel believing God is in everything, including himself, and subesequently trying to heal everyone. Mostly inoffensive, but a man does try to commit suicide (and fails) and Orel unplugs an elderly womans life support under her instruction. Skip if these topics make you uncomfortable.

Episode 7: God-Fearing (no need to skip)

Orel has no fun on Halloween because, due to having God on his side, nothing is scary to him. In order to have fun he deliberately breaks all the ten commandments, including “Thou shalt not kill”. Pretty inoffensive.

Episode 8: Loyalty (maybe skip)

Orel is introduced to Coach Stopframe’s nephew, Joe, and the two become friends. Due to the sermon of the day being about loyalty to friends, Orel does whatever Joe wants. This includes bashing a pair of young gay boys with baseball bats, which isn’t depicted too graphically, but is hard to watch. The episode also features Clay Puppington getting three young boys drunk. Skip if this sounds triggering, it doesn’t add much to the plot.

Episode 9: Maturity (maybe skip)

Orel’s younger brother, Shapey, accidentally shoots him in the eye with a BB gun. Orel wants to become more mature like an adult, so he starts stealing liquor from his dad’s collection in order to be an adult. Skip if alcoholism is a trigger for you.

Episode 10: The best Christmas Ever (don’t skip if plot is important to you)

The Best Christmas Ever marks the start of a real storyline in Moral Orel. It has some dark themes, and if you want to watch seasons 2 and 3, know that it just gets darker from here. However, this is also where it starts getting good, so I (probably) won’t be writing up trigger warnings for seasons 2 and 3, especially since that’ll also contain spoilers.

It is revealed that Shapey was an unplanned pregnancy, and may also not be Clay’s biological son. Bloberta wants a divorce. Orel believes Shapey to be the second coming of Jesus and treats him accordingly. Orel pleads God, with two minutes left of Christmas, to make things better.

I probably won’t provide warnings for seasons two o three. It’s expected that if you get up to this point that you are okay with the show satirizing the topics of child abuse, religious abuse, and alcoholism. Things get darker from here but are also more coherent, meaning that if you are able to stomach such topics then it is an excellent watch and anything I could write would also spoil the plot. This is meant as a loose guide to which first season episodes to avoid, and is the type of guide I could have used on my first watch. Also, I’m autistic and have too much free time.

#rext messages #moral orel #rape #homophobia #drug abuse #abuse #religious abuse #alcoholism #addiction

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