Review: Moral Orel, Season 2

Well, I never mentioned it in my review of Moral Orel's first season, but this is the moment I've been waiting for...the real reason I decided to watch this show in the first place. You see, Adult Swim has become a haven for shows that strive on non-sequitur quips and nonsensical scenarios that can only go so far before they become rather grating and uninspired. A perfect example of that would be "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", previously my favorite Adult Swim show of all time. The show's eclectic mix of unpredictability and random humor won me over and kept me a fan for years, until the fifth season rolled around. Suddenly what was once unfamiliar and new now seemed forced, recycled past ideas, and lost its endearing "anything goes" vibe. But when I heard that "Moral Orel" took a turn for the dramatic in seasons two and three, that was enough for me to take notice; suddenly, I had to check it out. After all, Adult Swim is certainly not a channel known for its potent drama.

Upon its first run, during which I never paid it any attention, I had assumed "Moral Orel" met a similar fate; canceled because it had run out of new ideas and was content with rehashing old ones. After all, how far can you take the idea of a God-fearing young boy, and play it off as a parody of such shows as "Davey & Goliath"? Boy was I wrong, and I'm sure many others have the same misconception. "Moral Orel" is not your simple straightforward spoof. It's a show that is much smarter, and much more daring than that. The fictional town of Moralton, as was hinted at in the first season but touched upon in much greater details here, is a town full of secrets and lies that threaten to undo the town's seemingly strong dedication to Christian beliefs. Perhaps most of the time, these secrets are played for laughs. But sometimes, they are dealt with in such a frank manner that there is no comedic safety net--everything is bared, leading to some truly poignant moments that very few shows (much less animated ones) would even attempt.

The first season of "Moral Orel" focused on Orel Puppington, a ten-year-old boy whose sole interests include going to church and serving the Lord, though his misguided attempts to do what he perceived to be "the right thing" would often lead to hilarious and shocking consequences. The second season focuses a little less on Orel, and more on the animated world around him, the other residents of Moralton, from the depressingly lonely Reverend Putty, to his own obviously unhappy parents.

The season opens with "God's Image", an episode that deals with religious segregation in a humorous tone that was largely missing from the final episode of the first season, "The Best Christmas Ever!" In the second episode, "Love", Orel is disturbed when he discovers that he loves a stray dog that he finds more than Jesus, leading to a conclusion that would be shocking on any other show, but that one can see coming from a mile away here. The third episode deals with Satanists and is rather humorless. Other episodes deal with topics ranging from the absurd (as when a man's wound, which bears a striking resemblance to Jesus, and for good reason, is viewed as a miracle), to the emotional (as in "Courtship", when we get a glimpse into the life of Doughy, Orel's best friend and right hand man). But all that is child's play compared to what transpires in the series' two-part finale.

Just as the initial previews for Orel's Christmas special seemed like a lighthearted (and terribly unfunny) send-up of cheesy religious shows, yet turned out to be one of the most depressing and brilliant Christmas-themed anythings in history, "Moral Orel's" second season ends on a shocking act of defiance; not just for the characters, but for the entire show itself. While I will admit that the finale wasn't nearly as much of an emotional roller coaster ride as I heard it was (it just bluntly establishes something that we have known all along), I will say that it nevertheless is an audacious moment that would forever redefine the series, forcing it to head in a new, previously unimaginable direction--one that Adult Swim execs absolutely hated. So, like many great shows before it, it was hurriedly aired, canceled, and somewhat forgotten (so much so that only the first season was ever released to DVD; there is still no official word on if, or even when, seasons two and three will follow). That being said, however, "Moral Orel" season two rarely manages to live up to the levels of its predecessor.

In my review for the first season, I said that if this season was even half as good as the first season was, then it will be an underrated gem in the field of animated television shows. It does end up being about half as good...but it's still too close for me to make a definitive call. For one, I felt the episodes were rather uneven. Whereas the first season felt more consistent (no doubt helped by the ten episodes in season one, compared to the twenty here in season two), there were more than a couple episodes that were little more than laughless and ridiculous (the aforementioned "Satanists" and "Offensiveness", to name two of the worst offenders). Orel's naivety, which I mentioned as a point of annoyance in the first one, also continues to reach unbelievable levels--at some point, even in a child of ten years of age, common sense should kick in long before he gets himself into such far-fetched situations.

But what this season does right, though it takes just about the entire way to get there, is set up the show for a truly memorable third season. So the verdict remains out there. It's clearly an underrated piece of animation, especially for Adult Swim, but could it be considered a true classic? It will take the third and final season for me to be able to tell for sure. But there's one thing you can't take away from its willingness to go from funny, to heart-wrenching; it's a fearless show, one that demands the respect of its peers and viewing audience, before Adult Swim continues to churn out the mindless crap that is quickly becoming the norm.

GRADE: B-