C&C - Moral Orel - "The Best Christmas Ever" [SERIES PREMIERE 12/13]

[Tienshin]

That's right, THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

No secular liberal atheist Christmas killers allowed! :mad:

Santa Claus is real damnit!

Exclamation Point

[Discloner]

Yet another club I'm restricted from. =(

[Tienshin]

Yet another club I'm restricted from. =(

GET OUT!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Djm912]

I'm offended. I'm writing the mods.

[Crimefighter]

Okay what the heck was TV-MA about this? Seemed TV-14 and no more.

[Djm912]

I'll give WS credit. They sure know how to hype something up.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

That was disturbingly dark. Funny stuff, though.

[tb4000]

Man, that was seriously the most depressing thing I've ever seen. Granted it was funny, but I feel so bad for that kid, dude.

[livingfruitvirus]

Okay what the heck was TV-MA about this? Seemed TV-14 and no more.
S&P tends to crap themselves when a show builds itself around making fun of religion.

[Daffy Dork]

That was rather lacking.

It lacked energy and excitement, which in turn made it boring.

It's pacing was positively awful, and the whole heartwarming Christmas fun and love of religion was better for a 30 second promo than a whole episode.

The only parts I did like were the Christmas carols (2 Front Eyeballs, and Giftcard to Pizza Jos :D )

2/5. I'm beginning to like Minoriteam more because of this...

[Brent Long]

Great, another big miss.

The jokes (or attempts at such) were almost non-existant. It's called Adult Swim Comedy for a reason. All of the present jokes failed miserably whether it be the little brother's antics, the gay phy. ed. teacher, or the... wait that was all the jokes.

I have no idea how they could possibly develop this into a series considering this already had very little plot development or plot period to begin with.

[tb4000]

No wonder Boondocks lagged that one week and then jumped back to first place. It's the only good show on the damn network.

[Humble]

I don't know why, but I expected something entertaining. :shrug:

It had some nice dark humor, but that's it.

-Humble

[Djm912]

It wasn't good. It wasn't even bad. It was just there. I don't know what I was supposed to see out of this show.

What jokes? What wackiness? What ANYTHING? Maybe I need to watch it again.

[Delthayre]

I'm not really sure what to think of that. It wasn't littered with the sort of overblown iconclasm that revels in its own extremity that I had feared at the worst, in fact it was quite the opposite. It was suprisingly low-key and almost subtle, but as much as I admired that and its grim tone, it just seems to lack something that would've inspired a strong response either way.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see more, but I wouldn't lose any sleep either way. The assesment that it existed and not much else seems to apply here.

[Tienshin]

Dark and full of "sacreligious" elements, but this wasn't funny.

Orel strikes me as a Tom character, the ultimate protagonist, but he is the ultimately the outsider to the joke. He won't get it, he never gets it, he is the joke. This had moments, and pushed some serious boundaries in terms of what AS has allowed to hit the airwaves when religion is the subject matter, but that's it. I am unimpressed, not by the concept, but by the lack of execution. "LOL Jesus" is a one trick pony, I hope the writers step it up. This was interesting, but on the other hand it was largely crap.

I didn't laugh. Not once.

[tb4000]

It seemed like it was TOO serious, not wacky enough.

[Mog]

All I can say is that it has an enormous amount of potential. I'm pretty sure that once the series gets going we'll all forget this was ever shown.

Until then I'll never even mention MO ever again.

[Samurai]

I liked it. But I can understand how people didn't like it. It's not a straight-up comedy with lots of laughs like Family Guy or American Dad. It's more similar to the Boondocks in that it has an actual story (although it takes itself more seriously than the Boondocks). This is definitely more of a low-key show with very dark humour. But that's why I like it. I mean, I do like "American Dad" and "Family Guy" as much as anyone else, but it's good to see a show that doesn't constantly bombard you with jokes at every minute and instead has a "real" plot.

It seems to me that a lot of people who've been disappointed with Adult Swims show lately criticize the "pacing" (too slow or not enough jokes). In other words, what people are expecting are "American Dad" and "Family Guy" type shows. Personally, I do think Seth McFarlane is a straight up hack. A GOOD hack, but he basically copied the Simpsons (pacing and format) and South Park (shock humour) and mixed them to create an inbetween... more extreme than the Simpsons but not as extreme as South Park.

I guess Seth McFarlane hit on the right formula that the high school teens and 20-somethings like. Maybe AS should just start making up 20 clones of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" with different topics. Wait, that costs too much money. Perhaps they should take the Flash route and make 20 clones of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on a shoe-string budget.

[beren]

Perhaps they should take the Flash route and make 20 clones of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on a shoe-string budget.

Enter 12 oz mouse, perfect hair forever, and the squidbillies.

anyway, I liked the show, I would give it a 3/5, the funniest part to me was the lust shield 6000 that the married couple slept between, and orel and his brother totally wrecking the nativity.

[KefkaFloyd]

I think people came into this with the wrong expectations.

It's a dark tale about religion not being what it's cracked up to be. It doesn't have to be a mile a minute guffaw fest. Then again, I really appreciate dark/ironic humor.

It's meant to make you think, really. For a pilot, it's not bad. 3/5.

[EightOh]

(although it takes itself more seriously than the Boondocks)I would have to strongly disagree with that, though I find it hard to form any truly strong opinions on this whatsoever. "Depressing" this may have been, but it didn't feel "serious" at all; whereas in the Boondocks, there are lots of out-there things and more jokes, but it sets out with more in mind than just making people laugh, regardless of whether someone thinks it succeeds in doing either or not.

I liked the fact that it was downer-after-downer for poor Orel, but in the end, it really didn't do much for me. I also enjoyed watching Orel and Shapey rip the nativity scene to shreds, but I'm weird like that.

On a scale of "bleh" to "heh," I rank Moral Orel at "meh." I'd like to see more, though.

[Mek]

I don't normally get offended at cracks at my religion. You get used to taking hit after hit for a while. And I don't mind a good dose of dark humor once in a while.

But I'd be lying through my teeth if I said this didn't offend me. Yes, that's right. "omg lolz she's offended." Hey, not everyone can find the same stuff funny and even I have limits for how much I can take thrown in my face about what I believe.

For what it's worth though, I'm not offended by 'The Boondocks'. *points to user title*

I'll give Moral Orel another chance... in a few months when I'm not still sore over this.

[Mr. Manager]

I guess it's good that I missed this. However, should I watch the Christmas rerun to see how bad it truely was? Also, what was offensive in it? I don't know because as I said I missed it.

[Nik Jam]

It's going to be a series??????????

God help us.

That wasn't good at all.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

I liked the relaxed pace of the show. AS has enough mile a minute in your face series as it is so another semi-slow one like HM/Tom adds balance but yeah it was pretty dark and depressing :( I'll watch it again tonight since it wasn't bad overall

[Zyzzybalubah]

I'm thankful it wasn't the Robot Chicken I thought they might have gone for. I'm a Home Movies Seasons 2-4 fan and I'm a pretty big Tom Goes to the Mayor fan, but this show just wasn't as entertaining as the two. I understand it's dark humor and basically all the terrible events are built up into one giant joke (Orel being misguided into believing that his brother was the second coming of Jesus, the parents splitting up, and him getting depressed about all the events as well as seeing his dad at the bar on Christmas night.) I liked the "There's two more minutes" bit. It did a good job in dark humor, heck it even made me a little upset for Moral. In a nutshell, the premise is decent, the execution was alright, but I don't know how long this show can work. 20 episodes seems a bit much for an order IMO. The reason why Tom Goes to the Mayor works is that while Tom suffering at the hands of the goofy Mayor may make you feel a little bad for Tom, it's done in such a goofy and humorous fashion that it's entertaining.

Bravo for not making this just a show where people get kicked in the nuts, rely on farting jokes, or have a cuss off for humor. While the pilot could use a little work, I'm willing to give the show more of a chance.

[herbkir]

Moral Orel was a good exercise in dark humor. It was full of slyly funny religious sendups, from the minister's sermon, to the Lust Shield 6000 (which obviously didn't work too well), to the brothers wrecking the Nativity scene, to the marital breakup on Christmas, to Orel thinking his brother is the Second Coming of Jesus,to the gay phys ed teacher making a move on Orel's dad, to poor hopeful Orel saying to God that there still 2 minutes left for the Best Christmas Ever. I also liked the whole claymation style, reminiscent of the old Davey & Goliath animated series, which was a kid's show with a Christian relgious theme.

But I wonder whether they can keep it up for 20 episodes. Will it get better as they hit their stride, or will it get worse as they run out of clever ideas? I fear it will get worse. Religious comedy is hard to do, especially on an extended series basis. BUt we'll see. (^_*)

[David Lucas]

Back in my time, I used to be a pretty devout Catholic. And even with that in my background, this episode didn't offend me once.

It did suck, however.

I'm sorry, there's a lot of talk about the dark comedy this has. I love dark comedy, I think dark comedy is one of the greatest things out there. That skit from Robot Chicken? The one where the father kills the mother and the fairy and gets gunned down over and over for the Darkest Sketch in TV History?

I thought that was the greatest sketch Robot Chicken ever did.

I can tell that that's the type of vibe Morel Orel was trying to channel, but it just didn't work at all.

This is not dark comedy. This is just dark. You have to have comedy included for it to be dark comedy.

The funniest part of the entire thing was when the priest said, "This could be a synagogue." I also liked when they started wreckin the manger scene and Orel said, "The apocalpyse has begun!" That was pretty funny.

That's it though. I can't remember laughing or even smiling at anything else.

The gay phys ed teacher was garbage. For a second I though he was the father of Shapey, I couldn't tell if the father's line of "I wish I could but your brains in wife's head." made the teach uncomfortable because of the oral sex insinuations or the thought of him as his wife.

As for the folks getting split up on Christmas, I guess this just kinda hits a nerve to me since my folks told me they were getting a divorce on my 10th birthday party.

I understand this is supposed to be, I dunno, insightful into "how religion isn't all it's cracked up to be." But this is Adult Swim. If they wanted to air this as is, they should have given us some previous warning like, "Hey, this is not us trying to be funny in any way, we just wanna show the dark side of Christmas."

It made me wanna slit my wrists at the end of this thing, for chrissake.

I'll let it slide though, because even though Adult Swim isn't what it used to be, with new Aqua Teen, Stroker and Hoop finding it's niche VERY slowly, Perfect Hair Forever showing that [as] can still make decently animated shows (I'm sorry, I just can't get into 12 oz), new Family Guy, and most importantly, the Boondocks......at least they're trying to keep things fresh. As much as I love Harvey Birdman, Futurama, and 1-3 of Family Guy, if I had to watch one more repeat I was going to shoot someone.

So don't let this discourage you adult swim, so what if it sucks? I'd rather watch it than the "Shoyu Weenie" episode of Birdamn one more time.

[TRobot]

I thought a few of the scenes mildly amusing(are you decent?) but some parts were a little boring and i could see the end coming from miles away.

This is coming from an adult swim hater but this was ''good stuff'' for an adult swim original in my mind(no offense).If i were to compare it to the boondocks then it would be mediocre.

[tigerrunner]

The slow pacing and darker tone were certainly refreshing, but I wasn't as impressed by Moral Orel as I thought I would be. I honestly didn't realize it was over. The animation was very nice, so that's a plus, but overall the show does need to focus on humor. Hopefully this show will pull an American Dad and be a really funny series derived from a really sucky pilot.

[Master Moron]

Uhhhh...I thought this was supposed to be a comedy? This was like some extremely depressing drama.

[SITHTICON]

This show sucked hardcore butt! I wanted to strangle that little kid! It was not even remotely funny it was too damn depressing. The way the parents split up was just plain sad. And the ending, a straight out poop fest. After all that hype I was expecting something along the vein of Aqua Teen. I give four UN-ignited Lightsabers, infact thats it doesn't even desrve my rating. Frell man, when will Adult Swim learn that Tom Goes To The Mayor, Squidbillies and 12 Oz Mouse should be canceled! They should have renewed Brak, Sealab 2021 and Home Movies!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Karl Olson]

Amazingly bleak. As a comedy, it's pretty much a failure outside of a few lines. As a drama, I've got to say it's almost scary good at making characters seem sympathetic. I felt bad for the people involved even though it was limited claymation. That's sort of an achievement in it's own right, atleast in terms of direction. Still, I hope the show is more humor oriented - I don't think a series could function being this bleak, atleast given the thin premise it's being framed with. If it were a 22 minute series about a kid losing faith, that could be interesting in an emotionally devastating way because it could be fleshed out and developed.

[Juu-kuchi]

What in God's name did I just watch?

Let's never air this again.

[Redi]

I've aleady seen the claymation Christmas tale parody on Madtv years ago. So Moral Orel and RC's recent episode was very "been there and done that".

I didn't expect much from Moral Orel and thats what I got. I understood the tone and humor, it just wasn't very entertaining.

[Beat]

Don't comedies usually have jokes? I mean, seriously. I counted a total of two jokes in Moral Orel. It wasn't funny, it wasn't even trying to be funny. It was just trying to depress people. In that regard, it succeeded somewhat.

Most of Williams Street's defenders on the ASMB keep claiming that it's a good thing they do shows like Moral Orel because it's an alternative to the other shows they've done. To quote a line from Home Movies- "Yeah, an alternative to GOOD."

That Davey and Goliath Mountain Dew commercial was funnier than this.

[kashpoing]

I fell asleep during the first showing but I watched it in its entirety last night and all I have to say is that I fell asleep for a reason. I thought this didnt really rate being on AS until the talk of cheating and after that it went back to sucking.

[Kino]

I very much got a Boondocks vibe out of this. It seemed to be a warning against blind faith and religious hypocrisy. Note that as his brother destroys the manger scene, Orel repeats those actions without question. What I found most poignant was that as we pull back from the city and get a "God's-eye view" of Orel, we barely see him at all. It's meant to be disturbing and unsettling, not funny.

[G1Ravage]

I appreciated some of the religious humor and references, but the show as a whole was NOT funny. It ended abruptly without any sort of closure, and I feel like I've wasted 12 minutes of my life.

[K-S-O]

After the mixed responses that was posted on this board, I decided to check out the show for myself. Personally, I didn't it was bad but it wasn't very good either. The religious jokes never got to me, mainly because I never was a devout Catholic so nothing offended me. I did feel pretty sorry for that boy. He wanted a good Christmas and he never got it. Reminds me of my eighth birthday, only without the divorce.

I didn't laugh once in this show and I don't plan to watch any reruns of this. The show has some potential but whether or not it'll live up to it is another story.

[Meh]

It's going to be a series??????????

God help us.

That wasn't good at all.heh, it's just another time I'm turning the tv off at night now. With awsful shows like 12oz mouse, morel orel, squidbillies, tom goes to the mayor, Perfect hair forever, and The Boondock I have a lot of free time not watching adult swim in the night time.

[Punisher]

What was TV MA about this again? I was practically expecting Santa coming in and ripping heads off. What I saw wasn't bad, it just wasn't that good either. It looks promising though, and I would much rather watch Morel Oral then 12. Oz Mouse or Squidbillies.

[Tienshin]

Since the the episode first aired I have heard a few things about this episode and the series.

The Christmas special was not the pilot but rather the 10th episode produced for the series.

Accirding to some people who attended a screening party which featured several episodes, this Christmas special has a totally different feel than the other episodes.

Also, the creator Dino S. was said to have had some hesitation about airing this episode first instead of having a few others set the tone for the series.

The general feeling of those who attended the screening was largely positive and and upbeat. They wouldn't pass along much details about episodes as they were asked not to, but people seemed very excited about the series.

I don't how much it would affect people's opinion of this episode even if we had gotten a few regular episodes in before the Christmas special though. But I just thought I'd share what I had happened across.

[Karl Olson]

Since the the episode first aired I have heard a few things about this episode and the series.

The Christmas special was not the pilot but rather the 10th episode produced for the series.

Accirding to some people who attended a screening party which featured several episodes, this Christmas special has a totally different feel than the other episodes.

Also, the creator Dino S. was said to have had some hesitation about airing this episode first instead of having a few others set the tone for the series.

The general feeling of those who attended the screening was largely positive and and upbeat. They wouldn't pass along much details about episodes as they were asked not to, but people seemed very excited about the series.

I don't how much it would affect people's opinion of this episode even if we had gotten a few regular episodes in before the Christmas special though. But I just thought I'd share what I had happened across.

Well, it certainly seemed to have a different tone than the clip from the promo. In a sense, I wonder though if the X-mas special would have just seemed darker had we had a few episodes of comedy in front of it though. We'd have had some episodes getting attached to the characters in one context, then seen them in a different light. In a sense, it'd be like watching of the more dramatic Futurama episodes before seeing the comedy eps. If anything, it might have softened the blow to have not seen in a comedic light first. Maybe.

[Shnay]

I enjoyed this, for the same reasons many people didn't enjoy it, apparently. This episode, which apparently isn't reflective of the series (thanks Tienshin), used a setup I usually don't care for: "Take something that's seen as wholesome, and use it to tell a story that's very unwholesome! People will be shocked!" But Moral Orel took that normally irritating setup and executed it so well that I found myself very pleasantly surprised.

I don't know if there were any "jokes" I laughed at. In fact, I'm not sure I actually laughed out loud at anyhing in this show. But I did think it was very funny. When such incredible bleakness is presented in such a way as it was in Moral Orel, the result is funny. It was tragedy taken to comic extremes, with characters that aren't grounded in reality enough to feel genuinely bad for them. The final scene crushing any remaining hope that things would improve sealed it for me. Good stuff.

Speaking of the final scene, I really don't see that, or the rest of the show, as all that sacreligious. I don't think God not coming to his rescue was supposed to be a commentary on the idea of God, nor do I think most of this family's actions were supposed to be commentary on religion. Honestly, I don't think any offence was intended. It's entirely possible (likely, even) that there were things I didn't notice or have forgotten because my religious beliefs weren't the ones supposedly being mocked. Could someone expand on the religiously offensive nature of the show for me?

[The Dork Knight]

Does anyone know when they'll be re-airing this again?

[Mr. Manager]

Does anyone know when they'll be re-airing this again?Christmas/the day after Christmas.
EDIT: It's also airing tonight on Friday Night Fix.

[raykremer]

Lame. Dark comedy yes, but without a punchline.

[Mr. Manager]

Wow. That was awful. I never laughed. I gave it a chance and hated it. Not even the "funny" parts made me laugh. I didn't laugh at the Christmas carol scene, or the little brother, or the bar scene. To top it all off, they have an even crappier ending. Rats Off To Ya was miles better than this piece of garbage.

[Happy]

I have a totally neutral view of the show, which makes it automaticly better than around half of Adult Swim's current lineup.

[Shawn Hopkins]

It's like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" crossed with Davey and Goliath. And about as funny as a crutch.

The show implies that God is either dead, uncaring, or never existed and that virgin birth is ridiculous and Jesus was probably the result of an extramarital affair. That there is no one to depend on but ourselves, our good deeds and good behavior go unnoticed, unrewarded and unreciprocated and that in the end we are ultimately alone.

I'm not sure how saying that is funny, though, except maybe in a mean-spirited "look at the stoopid Christians" way or a gallows humor realization that belief is a waste of time. Mostly, it's just sad.

Also, if you're going to have a show that undercuts the real reason for Christmas and declares it ********, there's no need to take pokes at the commercialization of Christmas. It isn't so inappropriate if it's all that's left.

[Freedom Fighter]

Heh... seems that it's time to ship off another show comedy to the town known as Theresville, because we've got another show in 'Moral Orel' that's not good, not bad, it just exists. Damn, I've been saying that a lot this fall, haven't I?

Okay, there were two good moments... Orel thinking his younger brother was the second coming of Jesus, and him later trying to reward him by buying a pizza restaurant gift certificate in the amount of $4.83 (why do I have a feeling that's not some random number... there's significance to it somewhere...).

The ending left me thinking there was more, that this was longer than an 11-minute show, that I was actually expecting some kind of answer to Orel's question from God. Got my hopes up too much, it seems.

Alright, could be better, but at least this isn't another '12 Oz. Mouse.'

6 out of 10.

[Charlie]

That was pretty boring. It had a build up that was kind of good but failed in its execution at the end of the show.

[Shnay]

The show implies that God is either dead, uncaring, or never existed and that virgin birth is ridiculous and Jesus was probably the result of an extramarital affair. That there is no one to depend on but ourselves, our good deeds and good behavior go unnoticed, unrewarded and unreciprocated and that in the end we are ultimately alone.

I'm not sure how saying that is funny, though, except maybe in a mean-spirited "look at the stoopid Christians" way or a gallows humor realization that belief is a waste of time. Mostly, it's just sad.Maybe I'm being naive, but I really don't think you're supposed to draw those conclusions from this episode. I don't think the joke is on Christians, or religion, or God. The joke is squarely on Orel. Nothing in the episode gave me the impression that a serious, overarching commentary on any subject matter was being made.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Maybe I'm being naive, but I really don't think you're supposed to draw those conclusions from this episode. I don't think the joke is on Christians, or religion, or God. The joke is squarely on Orel. Nothing in the episode gave me the impression that a serious, overarching commentary on any subject matter was being made. That's what I took away from it. Why don't those things fit?

God does not answer Orel's prayers, or anyone else's.

Orel thinks Shapey is divine because he's not his father's son. His mom points out that, duh, I knew that. I was screwing somebody else. Shapey actually attacks a manger scene. I don't know if they could lay the metaphor of people blindly following foolish things on any thicker.

And even if the joke is on Orel, he has one and only one character trait. Faith. And his belief gets him crapped on.

[Shnay]

Why don't those things fit?It's not so much that those conclusions aren't reasonable, as it is I don't think that that was the show's intention. I'm only guessing at the show's intentions here, so I really can't do too much to back up the claim. I just didn't get the feeling that any of the failings or misfortunes of this family were meant to represent any larger issues.

[Shawn Hopkins]

It's not so much that those conclusions aren't reasonable, as it is I don't think that that was the show's intention. I'm only guessing at the show's intentions here, so I really can't do too much to back up the claim. I just didn't get the feeling that any of the failings or misfortunes of this family were meant to represent any larger issues. I believe authorial intent is, as some literary critics have said, not important. The message and meaning lies in the work.

As a work, I feel Moral Orel gives us a bleak and Godless world, a world where believing in a higher power is foolish and causes unecessary pain. Even as an agnostic/almost atheist, I find that depressing.

[Mugen]

I enjoyed this, for the same reasons many people didn't enjoy it, apparently. This episode, which apparently isn't reflective of the series (thanks Tienshin), used a setup I usually don't care for: "Take something that's seen as wholesome, and use it to tell a story that's very unwholesome! People will be shocked!" But Moral Orel took that normally irritating setup and executed it so well that I found myself very pleasantly surprised.

I don't know if there were any "jokes" I laughed at. In fact, I'm not sure I actually laughed out loud at anyhing in this show. But I did think it was very funny. When such incredible bleakness is presented in such a way as it was in Moral Orel, the result is funny. It was tragedy taken to comic extremes, with characters that aren't grounded in reality enough to feel genuinely bad for them. The final scene crushing any remaining hope that things would improve sealed it for me. Good stuff.

Speaking of the final scene, I really don't see that, or the rest of the show, as all that sacreligious. I don't think God not coming to his rescue was supposed to be a commentary on the idea of God, nor do I think most of this family's actions were supposed to be commentary on religion. Honestly, I don't think any offence was intended. It's entirely possible (likely, even) that there were things I didn't notice or have forgotten because my religious beliefs weren't the ones supposedly being mocked. Could someone expand on the religiously offensive nature of the show for me?That's exactly what I got from watching the episode. Clearly this wasn't supposed to be laugh-out-loud funny like Family Guy or American Dad but, how a family is torn apart on a day that's suppose to bring everyone together. I remember two years back there was a short featuring Penguins that was a drama with no comedy and most people hated it. I was one of the few who liked it. I can't wait to see what the other episodes are like.

[DAISHI]

I'm not easily offended, I'm 23 and I've seen lots of things under the sun. But I still have a very simplistic belief that God does make miracles and that faith, especially child like faith, does not go unfulfilled. And the whole Moral Orel made me sick.

[Chrono1995]

That's what I took away from it. Why don't those things fit?

God does not answer Orel's prayers, or anyone else's.

And even if the joke is on Orel, he has one and only one character trait. Faith. And his belief gets him crapped on.
If there's one thing I took away from Sunday School, it's that it doesn't work to just scream "Hey, God! Answer my prayers!" There's nothing wrong with having a child-like faith, but the events of the special were almost completely out of Orel's control. In my opinion, in order for a miracle to happen, you have the ball in motion, and Orel did not do that because there was nothing he really could do. On top of that, he didn't recognize what was going on until the very end, and yet his faith still remained strong. So, on one hand he lost completely, but on the other he still maintained his faith. You be the judge on that.

...Except, of course, believe that Shapey was the Second Coming. While the execution wasn't funny throughout the episode, I did unexpectedly laugh out loud when Shapey screamed "STUPID PEOPLE!" and started wrecking the nativity scene.

To be honest, I didn't notice that I wasn't laughing, but I was actually thoroughly enjoying myself. I liked the dark nature of the show, and by pigeonholing the special by saying, "It's on Adult Swim Comedy, but it's not a comedy, therefore it's bad" is severely limiting. Besides, if the rest of the show actually is funny, I have a lot to look forward to.