REVIEW: MORAL OREL ” BEFOREL OREL”

An origin story for Orel and Shapey.

Spoilers Below

The circle of fucking life, huh?? After repeated attempts at launching himself off of a radio tower, Orel walks in on his mom and Coach Daniel post conception of Shapey. Clay is completely against the idea of having another baby but Bloberta is all for it despite the fact that her husband isn’t exactly the model father. Eventually, Clay takes Orel to  see his dad Arthur and just blatantly drops him off without even a “John Deere” letter. Yep, turns out Orel is living with Arthur for awhile and at first it looks like a great relationship as they take part in many-father/son activities that make ’em closer then ever. Soon enough, Arthur breaks the news to Orel that he’s not stupid and people lie to the poor kid all the time. After a few months, Bloberta and Clay pickup Orel from Art’s right in time for the birth of his new step-brother, Shapey. While we get a front-row seat of Shapey being born, Clay tells Orel all about church but the kid doesn’t buy in which means from now on…more Church!

During Orel’s first day at church, he asks the priest about the validity of God and if the son of a bitch is even real.  The Reverend flips the fuck out of which he puts Orel in a class room type session where he learns that he is not aloud to question God’s existence no matter what. After which, Orel prays then writes a letter to his grandfather telling him of the situation in which case he proceeds to try and kill his new baby brother just like Abraham did in the bible. Thankfully, Arthur stops everything from going down and then confronts his son Clay about his obsession with spewing God talk all over Orel. When Orel is released from jail, he gets told that he isn’t aloud to talk to his grandfather anymore and to stay trusting in God no matter what.

Between the horse and Shapey, I’m not sure what was the grosser birth-scene, but what might have been the most important birthing of all was Orel’s unquestioned faith in God and what would be the subsequent years of extremes he would go to in an effort to make sure his dad was proud of him. In the canon of animated sitcoms we may have seen a number of ‘origin stories’ for some of our favorite characters like Homer, Peter, and yes they were very funny but I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a story quite like this. The special comes off as smart, funny, and quite surprisingly as somewhat of an emotional experience complete with an outstanding musical composition that just puts that extra sauce in the recipe that helps make this a true triumph for Adult Swim. I’m not sure if we will ever see any more Moral Orel episodes despite the fact that according to the home release special features there are a bunch more episodes that not only could be, but should be produced. But, if this is the last we’ve seen of Orel, then at least the series goes out on a high note.

(9.0 out of 10)