I think it’s because he wouldn’t have been as bad if he just stuck to what he originally wanted to do. Like you could see he would’ve been a better man had blobertta hadn’t pressured him into it. Not excusing for what he has become now, but he is a case of what would have been.
I think y’all are missing something here. Look at how everyone shields their eyes whenever the door opens. Everyone in that bar has their own sins to hide and they’re all coming there to forget about them. But when the light is cast on them, they don’t want to see the disgrace they’re living in. However, once Clay has his tirade that could be applied to all of them, everyone is ready to walk back out into the light, while Clay is left alone in the darkness, wallowing in his misery.
That was also probably going to be future foreshadowing/Chekov's gun considering Papermouth was written to get with Bloberta, Reverend Putty was supposed to realize Florence liked him for gim and work on himself to get back with her and I think the doctor was meant to make something of himself eventually; but Clay was written to always be miserable and never allow himself to break out of his own apathy and alcoholism while all the other character grew and moved on in future seasons.
I figured it was because having the light constantly in your face is annoying but, yeah that's true! This show always kills it with their hidden veils of meaning.
Does anyone else think that Shapey's comment about being "thirsty" is related to how the 4 men spent Easter Sunday in bar? They felt lonely, so they went to "quench their thirst"
I love how they all walk away from him with that pitiful, disappointed look. He's not even worth beating up, he's just some insecure, self-hating jackass. The fact that they managed to make that clear with claymation as simplistic as this is incredible.
It’s seriously ironic to hear Clay call Officer Papermouth pathetic for losing his wife to someone else. For those who aren’t aware yet, if the show wasn’t cut prematurely, Bloberta would’ve started developing feelings for Roger and eventually leave Clay for him. Then guess who’d end up the “loser.”
@@dullknifefactory He does, but during that speech he gives later on, Clay admits that he stays with her not just for appearances, but because he sees his entire family as private property; and that letting someone else come in and take it would be a massive hit to his masculinity and ego.
@@tamatriasalazarjerez She left her husband during the events of “Sunday,” and she was supposedly going to start taking better care of herself and start dating Rev. Putty.
The Reverend asking for people to have hope even in the face of nothing is honestly one of my favorite scenes. For as dark as the show is, it doesn't drown itself in pessimism it gets real but at the end there is always hope.
Moral Orel stands on top of other "dramadies" by neither downplaying its seriousness, while also not dwelling in its misery either. It perfectly balances despair and hope, creating the most human show ever.
I just realised, when Clay tries to goad them into hitting him, we don't see his teeth. He doesn't have the daring to throw the first punch, or change his ways. He's toothless- figuratively and literally. All bark, no bite.
"With all you people as role models no wonder my son is...*sensitive*." God, Clay is so fucked up. So many terrible, awful, evil parents have cropped up in animation since Moral Orel ended, and yet Clay still stands at the top above all of them. Everything about him is this perfect conglomerate of traits that feed into the worst qualities a human being can have, creating a harmony of toxicity that has yet to be matched. Name me a character that wouldn't be uncomfortably phased by his rant at the end of the episode. You can't. Clay isn't some supreme evil nor does he have this grandiose strategy to be the bastard that he is, he's just so mundanely horrible that it's breaking. Clay has truly taken the worst of a bad situation and somehow found a way to turn it into a hellish cesspool that, as he puts it, "poisons others around you." The worst part is how mundane it is. Clay isn't anybody special, yet he's so uncomfortable regardless. That's the secret to him, Clay could be the worst of the worst without special powers, cynical intellect, the ability to break the fourth wall, or any outside influencers that are giving him the authority to act this way. Clay is the worst person put to animation in history and he did it *aaaaaaallllllllllllll* by himself. That's what makes him so fucking haunting.
That is so true. He is unable to escape his demons. He let them consume him. He doesn't care if the whole world hates him as long as he matters. He also hates being ignored and the truth.
It's insane to think about how the writing in this episode works around the hunting trip. This happened right after he shot his son. It's like he's asking for punishment.
10:10 And just like that, the cycle repeats itself, Clay once again desperate to receive a reaction out of people in order to feel important enough to warrant their attention and ire, that he's worth something. And just like Arthur, all 3 men realized, Clay wasn't worth it.
@@lgbtqiarights that is so true. He's still a child in an adult's body. He can't make Orel into him, his wife is cheating on him again, and no one is going to hit him because he's not worth it.
@@bcrunch4232 True, sad about all of this is that Clay refused to admit his flaws and pushed away those who did care and love him. Clay has no one else to blame but himself.
When Clay doesn't want to talk about the hunting trip, I feel like he does feel some guilt about it, but he's such a miserable person that he won't admit it for the sake of his pride. He always blames others to make up for his own insecurities.
@@Aivottaja it's because clay is a childish person he is not unaware of the fact of those nightmares he has at night about his mother and his son saying dad after shooting him
probably my favorite thing about Clay is he’s he villain of his own life just as much as he’s the villain of everyone else’s he had many things that could lead to happiness, but he’s so drowned in his own misery and hang ups, he just doesn’t care and ruins it all
For as much as he hates Blobertta and blames her for much of his unhappiness never forget that the one thing he actually likes in the entire show, alcohol, was something he didn't have until he met her. Even when someone is projecting a toxic trait onto Clay he still feels the need to take the worst from the experience rather than try and make something good out of it. Even someone as awful as Blobertta gave Clay something that he could have found some way to appreciate, and he still found a way to make it absolutely miserable.
2:19 that dead serious “If I go into work today … I’m gonna kill somebody” has been rent free in my head as a working man for years. Not that I ever would, but I’ve had days.
Shapey saying that breaks my heart, the poor thing. I just wanna give him a hug because he's so starved for genuine love and attention. The only coherent sentence he says and it's a deeply hurt expression of his loneliness. I can't believe a claymation show made me wanna cry 😭
It doesn't matter how many times I think or read about it, the fact that Tigger was the one who came up with that line and just said it to Dino out of the blue one day astounds me.
Clay could be one of my fav depictions of Satan in fiction. Not only is he deceptive and holding a position of power, but he's a horrible person, like overall. His misery turned him into a destructive person who takes advantage of other people's weaknesses, even at their worst. However, when these three men at the bar realize how pathetic Clay is himself, they just leave him be. His son and his wife can't have that luxury, and Orel gets it the hardest when Clay tries and shatters his innocence by making him shoot an animal and then some. Clay is the show's statement that it's possible for a person to be alive and yet burning in hell
Also much like Satan, you don't need to entretain his blasphemy, once you realize that the power he has upon you is tge power you give to him, all you need to do is ignore him, leave him to rot in his own fiery pits and decide to go to the light (or the excessively shining outside of a bar), since he can't really do anything, but weep upon his misery...
Clay in this show has always made me think of Dante's conception of Satan; blind, frozen up to the waist, eternally gnawing at Judas' head. God is supposed to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, so in depicting his antithesis Dante sought to portray him as ignorant, impotent, and hateful. Evil isn't some all-pervasive cosmic force of destruction, it's a variety of woundedness, a state of fear that refuses to temper itself with love. Clay's glowing,red, fly-ridden face in "Nature" IS the face of the devil, just as it can show through each of ours at our worst, and the devil's face is twisted with disappointment, confusion, desperation, terror, and spite, always pathetic and ineffective in the grand scheme.
@@Hiro_RamoneYou're attempting to talk in metaphor but still writing as if Satan is literally some guy in a bar. I'll tell you what? I'll name my first son AA (Antichrist Allin named after Jesus Christ Allin) and you can call him Satan whenever he's pissed.
Also probably because, if I was in her position, I wouldn't exactly want to set off an already sardonic, sexually repressed psycho-man who's bordeline admitting to child abuse, who's already on the verge of snapping. I'd be scared shitless if I was her.
it's so impressive how these are clay figures, yet with the perfect voice actors and facial expressions they can seem even more expressive than humans at times, this show is so amazing bro
If you want to see even better use of stop motion, I’d recommend watching Anamolisa, which Dino and Dan Harmon both produced. It uses stop motion to tell one of the most human stories I’ve ever seen.
im sorry but im fucking obsessed with the face animation at 8:45 you can really FEEL how clay's festering anger turns into this hopelessness and see how he can burst out crying right then and there until he represses again and decide to hold onto that anger. Meromorphic was right you can really see a glimpse of baby Clay in that moment and it hurts (he deserves the pain tho)
I really love how even if Putty wanted to rub in how hopeless everyone felt, but still wanted to remind that even if it feels far away there is always hope
Idk why this show was canceled. It was genius. The majority of this episode takes place ranting in a bar, but it’s intriguing and just pulls you down further down the rabbit hole.
It got too dark and depressing. It is interesting and it's one of those things that people will get later on in life but I guess they flew too close to the sun with that.
I notice that Office Papermouth looks more like Orel than Clay does. I like to think this is a nice bit of visual foreshadowing of what would have eventually been his role as a proper step father figure in Orel’s life.
BEAR WITH ME, THIS COMMENT IS REALLY REALLY LONG. I can't be the only one to notice that each person Clay addresses in his bar monologue is a "theme" that he shares with them. When talking to Reverend Putty he addresses premarital loneliness, when talking to Papermouth he addresses dissatisfaction with your wife, when talking to Potterswheel he addresses infidelity. But to me this scene is so much more than just an edgy monologue. This scene is the explosive culmination of a man who knows every dark corner in Moralton because he's festered in that darkness for years. Clay and Orel seem to be the only ones that possess an awareness of Moralton's true nature, and what they do with that knowledge is different and completely telling of their characters and how they contrast each other. From the very beginning, Clay is collecting entail on the dark secrets each character keeps in the way a dictator stockpiles on nukes. He knows that one day he might have to use those secrets to his advantage. And his timing, as well as his method when he finally does it, are both impeccable. But one thing has to be established; Moralton knows what happened to Orel on that hunting trip, they just choose to play dumb in order to maintain their twisted status quo. This is proven by the Censordoll campaign's "Big Game" poster showing a crippled Orel in the episode after this one. BUT because Clay is so in tuned with Moralton's pulse, he knows that everyone else knows. He can feel it. His failure as a father, his inadequacy as a husband, and his reputation as mayor being seriously compromised is driving him into a narcissistic collapse. He can tell he's about to be under attack, so he decides to strike first. This is how you can tell that Clay is, in a way, a narcissistic mastermind; in the bar scene, Clay manages to harness the established insecurities and dark secrets of every character involved while simultaneously not revealing their insecurities to each other. In this way, Clay, through blackmail and attacking each individual character's dark secrets head on, does multiple things. Firstly, he subtly establishes individually to each character that he knows their respective secrets; which he then attacks, thus provoking their insecurity. Secondly, he establishes power over them by not announcing their secrets outright, meaning each individual victim has a vested interest in making sure Clay doesn't spill their secret; Clay uses this dynamic to effectively blackmail each person. Thirdly, he uses his newfound control over each character's reputation and self-esteem to pit them against each other as well as drag them to his level so he can avoid the shame of his own secrets. Because he knows Rodger isn't over Florence, he knows Putty slept with Florence and that Putty is pathetically lonely, and he knows that Bloberta basically cheated on him with Potterswheel. But just the sheer subtlety of Clay collecting entail, how it's shown throughout the show, once you notice it, you just can't unsee it. Like how Clay calls Reverend "Revs" because Clay probably heard Stephanie call Reverend that in the "Be Fruitful and Multiply" episode and gauged the self-deprecating amount of flattery that Putty not only displayed, but was also likely privately humiliated by. It would also explain why Clay is shown looking shocked at Reverend making a fool out of himself in front of Stephanie before walking up after she's gone and asking if she's his type. He's gathering fucking entail. And when he finally uses "Revs" to address Putty, Putty fucking snaps and resorts to physical violence as a result of what only he and Clay know. It's brilliant. And Clay portraying Dolly as a whore because he's been at the bar so much that he knows how insecure she is about being sexually objectified, something which was established when Rodger offered money to her for sex in season one. Then the twisted irony of Clay using Dolly as an example to Rodger of how beautiful women will fail you a year after Rodger's attempt to court Dolly. But nonetheless, Clay's narcissism is hanging by a string and that string is Stopframe. So, when Clay's lost his adequacy as a husband, the respect of his only true son, and the prestige of his position- Stopframe is all he really has left. But when his shallow affair with Censordoll causes Stopframe to pull away, Clay enters a full narcissistic collapse. Okay, that's all. There's more but I'm tired and I've said my piece. If you made it this far, thank you very much for reading. Toodles!
The three guys and Dollie walking out on Clay is hundreds of times worse than any physical harm they could've done to him. It was the right thing to do from them
I love the whole church part. Just reverend putty seeing that everyone is miserable and then thinking ,,orel!!! :))" and seeing that even OREL IS BEATEN UP AND HOPELESS. OREL. The happiest kid who doesn't get down bc of *anything *. Just the look on orels face. And then reverend putty doing his speech, its so good. Also idk but im really getting the vibes that he specifically wanted to cheer orel up, which would be adorable
I remember Scott Adsit heard Mike Lazzo (head of adult swim, guy who canned the show) say this about the episode: "That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the smartest thing that was ever produced for adult swim. The shows still cancelled by the way"
@@Chiller326 It was important to display the sexual trauma that occurs and persists in our society. As uncomfortable as it is to watch, confronting people with it is the only way to give some understanding and agency to the issue
@@juannaym8488 while it was certainly a very good and important episode, i still kind of get why they cancelled the show over it. they asked for darker humor, not darker character drama.
@@stanpines9011 that's kinda hypocritical in my opinion dark humor could've ended in them making Alone more comedic instead of dramatic. It would've covered the same subjects in a more tasteless way
@@juannaym8488 well yes, that's kinda what adult swim wanted them to do, and it would've been tasteless. what it ultimately boils down to is that they didn't do what adult swim wanted, even if it made for a better show, and they got punished for it.
As horrible as Clay is idk why it hurt when he said “that poisoned the others around you...that you loved” as he teared up. That's just crazy to me. Because though out the whole show it gives you the impression that he simply can't love or at least love in a way that isn't toxic or completely twisted. Yet he has feelings. He understands that he wasn't always like this, that there was a time where he kept his horrid “true nature” well hidden and tried for the people he loved, but now like he told Orel in season 1, “there isn't enough room in my heart to love you son” (not the exact quote but something like that). There's too much misery and hatred and therefore poison and evil in his heart fueled by alcohol and certain ppl around him, and now he's able to poisen others where it hurts them the most. He posiened Orel and with it his bright innocence and hope to the point where Orel sees hope in Clay’s lack of presence like what happened in the beginning of the episode where rev said find hope in what isn't there and guess who wasn't at the sermon, Clay.
The episode "Alone" was considered so dark by Adult Swim that they cancelled the show outright. Your show's pretty fucked up if ADULT SWIM thinks you're too dark for them.
This is up there with Ozymandias as one of the greatest episodes in television history, mainly attrributed to its screenplay - Dino Stamatopoulos is one of the greats at mastering witty yet grounded dialogue, really seering into the personalities of these clay-animated characters and making them feel incredibly real.
Funny you mention that. Breaking Bad has Bob Odenkirk as Saul, Bob also created Mr. Show with Bob and David for HBO, which Dino wrote for and Dino, Scott, and Jay acted in.
Show has a growing fandom and has been around for like 18 years and to this day about .01% of Moral Orel fans by any means idolize him. Moral Orel is just built different
@@higethedog That the reason he asks his mother for "milk" so often is because she's extremely emotionally neglectful and that's the only way he can feel close to / connected to her.
@@carbonstealer6389 thats true too but that comment also means that when you feel thirsty, its a need. It’s something you need to survive. Its saying the company of others is something we humans need just as much as water. At least for some people
It's all come to this. I've heard of this show a few times from a different sources in some different reviews. But I never gave it a try until I heard it sampled in Sewerslvt's work. I caved and binged watch each of these, and I'm close to the end now. Thank you for these uploads, based OP. Take care where ever you are in the world.
I also find it funny in retrospect that Putty had no second thoughts about threatening violence against an elected official. Clay must just be that pathetic, I guess.
The reason i started to watch this show was because sewerslvt sampled clays speech about sacrifices in one of her songs, im so happy they did cause this is one of the best shows ive watched.
I’ve seen people who drink a lot or do drugs ramble about their lives, and Clay sounds exactly like one of those people when he rambles. How did his voice actor perfectly capture how a broken person acts and sounds?!
The start of this episode is so underrated because the followup makes it pale in comparison. That realisation Orel has after Putty did his sermon is one of the best moments of the entire show.
I’ve noticed a pattern in clays rants, he starts off calm and depressing when talking about his “sad” life and he blames himself. He starts so vulnerably but almost human. This is w you should stop clay before he goes on because the more he goes on, the more he realizes meaning the angrier and unhinged he gets. He also has this habit where he gets very defensive when someone tries to cut him off of his speech. An example of this is when he was giving his father bible verses as a kid and when his dad told him “that’s enough” clay still talked over him agitated like he wanted to get the word out no matter what. And another is shown in this video where the bartender says she gets what he’s talking about and he yells that she doesn’t instantly.
@@Killgore-ip2yq definitely. it doesn't make sense for him to be talking about stopframe - since when has he ever been hurt by clay's actions? (at this particular point in the series.) and anyway, his romance with stopframe was mostly a semi-comedic thing, while clay and orel's relationship is like the central relationship of the show. makes a lot more sense for this big climactic monologue to be about orel.
2:20 I get the feeling that this line would’ve been foreshadowing had the show kept going considering everything we witnessed Clay do this whole series I honestly wouldn’t be as surprised if he actually did kill someone at his “Stinking Dead-end” Job.
5:52 Rodger and Putty: D:< Clay: >:3 also imagined if one of them said "you're not even worth it." like his father did. I know that would hurt even more for him.
I've never seen a full episode of Moral Orel before. I'm sorta self-sabotaging my experience with this show by spoiling one of the last episodes. It's just morbid curiosity because I love that Sewerslvt track. But holy crap, that was one of the best pieces of animated television I've ever watched. What a trip. I'm glad I watched this. This is a master class in writing. The horribleness and viscera of his speech will fester in my mind for years to come.
Notice how Clay starts crying once he talks about “poisoning others around him.” Yeah, this whole rant is about other people but this part really gets to him because he knows deep down what a monster he has been to his family. Damn, how do you feel hate a character yet feel bad for them at the same time?
God fucking damn. I found this show from a song. Ecifricas by sewerslvt. The voice lines from this episode gave me such chills that I knew I had to watch it. And now I have, binged it in 2 days. This show is so phenomenal. It’s so??? Insanely good ????? I can’t describe the feelings it’s made me feel. The complexities of All the characters keep you interested and god orel makes me sad. MAN IDK 10/10 I just needed to comment
A priest, a policeman, a doctor and a mayor walk into a bar.
Underrated coment
Judge?
@@beefboss5979 Darnn, I blew it.
Technically not a priest, a pastor, but the concept remains the same so don't listen to me
@@ToonBoom788 "im the ruler of everything in the end"
clay is so complex you can simultaneously hate everything about him and somehow still feel bad for the guy like wtf 💀
this show is a masterpiece
His voice actors lines are so raw and real. Clay’s story is so complex
I think it’s because he wouldn’t have been as bad if he just stuck to what he originally wanted to do. Like you could see he would’ve been a better man had blobertta hadn’t pressured him into it. Not excusing for what he has become now, but he is a case of what would have been.
It's almost like real people huh?
Only reason I have the tinyest bit of pity for clay is since his wife introduced him to alcohol.
@@vincentvalentine4401 which is probably one reason he hates women
Fun fact, this episode won an emmy.
I’d be surprised if it didnt get some sort of recognition.
Deserved
Mostly for the character animation. But definitely deserved it.
@@SouthJerseySam tbf the show is well animated
@@SouthJerseySam nah, mostly or the dialogue. this show rips not only Christianity but western society a new one.
I think y’all are missing something here. Look at how everyone shields their eyes whenever the door opens. Everyone in that bar has their own sins to hide and they’re all coming there to forget about them. But when the light is cast on them, they don’t want to see the disgrace they’re living in. However, once Clay has his tirade that could be applied to all of them, everyone is ready to walk back out into the light, while Clay is left alone in the darkness, wallowing in his misery.
THANK YOU! i was trying to figure out what the point of the light through the door way was.
That was also probably going to be future foreshadowing/Chekov's gun considering Papermouth was written to get with Bloberta, Reverend Putty was supposed to realize Florence liked him for gim and work on himself to get back with her and I think the doctor was meant to make something of himself eventually; but Clay was written to always be miserable and never allow himself to break out of his own apathy and alcoholism while all the other character grew and moved on in future seasons.
Yeah, after seeing how pathetic and miserable Clay is, those people decided to face their sins.
I figured it was because having the light constantly in your face is annoying but, yeah that's true!
This show always kills it with their hidden veils of meaning.
Based Take.
I love that. Thank you.
Shapey had one normal line in the entire show…and he nailed it
he could form actual sentences when he mocked orel for his devotion to god
@@BirdManor when was this?
@@acidicali7776 the episode where orel found a stray dog and kept it
@@acidicali7776 “me orel, blah blah blah, jesus, blah blah, sinner”
Shapey is the reason that this episode won an Emmy
Clay's voice actor made a brilliant job in this episode...
He talked faster
Ikr
so weird that this is the same guy who plays pete hornburger in 30 rock
"NO. YOU. DON'T."
@@ichithemariner440 bro ikr, I love 30 rock so when I watch this show I started to recognize the voice
Does anyone else think that Shapey's comment about being "thirsty" is related to how the 4 men spent Easter Sunday in bar? They felt lonely, so they went to "quench their thirst"
Being deprived of human connection is as crucial as being deprived of water
wow, nice observation! it's almost like everyone in town is thirsty, then. and this is a season exploring the thirst, i guess.
So he's got the shining.
@@solaramoeba dino's daughter is ok?
@@YowLife bro , you re a f ucking genious
Clay is the most complex character I've ever seen
Clay is probably one of my favorite animated characters of all time
@@Theron658 same
I don't watch this show. Did the doctor sleep with his wife, and he found out? Why and how?
@@asturianix9820 yes but that's just the tip of the iceberg
@@Theron658 what else happened?
I love how they all walk away from him with that pitiful, disappointed look. He's not even worth beating up, he's just some insecure, self-hating jackass.
The fact that they managed to make that clear with claymation as simplistic as this is incredible.
Just like how his father refrained from beating him a few episodes ago, saying he wasn’t worth it.
@@shoddy8205 Good catch. I didn't notice that
Clay deep down is just a petulant tantrum throwing child
Edit: Or he still is, rather…
“NO YOU DON’T!”
Based Clay.
*clay*mation
Everytime I hear the "NO- YOU- DON'T!" I keep expecting that bass drop
lol yeah
Sewerslvt I'm guessing? Because if I'm right, same.
Sewerslvt
she's back
@@kazoo4rentYes the transvestite. Jesus...
It’s seriously ironic to hear Clay call Officer Papermouth pathetic for losing his wife to someone else. For those who aren’t aware yet, if the show wasn’t cut prematurely, Bloberta would’ve started developing feelings for Roger and eventually leave Clay for him. Then guess who’d end up the “loser.”
Wouldn't matter much really seeing as how he hates her
@@dullknifefactory He does, but during that speech he gives later on, Clay admits that he stays with her not just for appearances, but because he sees his entire family as private property; and that letting someone else come in and take it would be a massive hit to his masculinity and ego.
and who is florence with???
@@tamatriasalazarjerez Reverend Putty
@@tamatriasalazarjerez She left her husband during the events of “Sunday,” and she was supposedly going to start taking better care of herself and start dating Rev. Putty.
The Reverend asking for people to have hope even in the face of nothing is honestly one of my favorite scenes. For as dark as the show is, it doesn't drown itself in pessimism it gets real but at the end there is always hope.
Yeah like that was actually a good sermon.
Moral Orel stands on top of other "dramadies" by neither downplaying its seriousness, while also not dwelling in its misery either. It perfectly balances despair and hope, creating the most human show ever.
I just realised, when Clay tries to goad them into hitting him, we don't see his teeth.
He doesn't have the daring to throw the first punch, or change his ways.
He's toothless- figuratively and literally.
All bark, no bite.
Also I doubt he can make that noise while showing his teeth
"With all you people as role models no wonder my son is...*sensitive*."
God, Clay is so fucked up. So many terrible, awful, evil parents have cropped up in animation since Moral Orel ended, and yet Clay still stands at the top above all of them. Everything about him is this perfect conglomerate of traits that feed into the worst qualities a human being can have, creating a harmony of toxicity that has yet to be matched.
Name me a character that wouldn't be uncomfortably phased by his rant at the end of the episode. You can't. Clay isn't some supreme evil nor does he have this grandiose strategy to be the bastard that he is, he's just so mundanely horrible that it's breaking. Clay has truly taken the worst of a bad situation and somehow found a way to turn it into a hellish cesspool that, as he puts it, "poisons others around you."
The worst part is how mundane it is. Clay isn't anybody special, yet he's so uncomfortable regardless. That's the secret to him, Clay could be the worst of the worst without special powers, cynical intellect, the ability to break the fourth wall, or any outside influencers that are giving him the authority to act this way.
Clay is the worst person put to animation in history and he did it *aaaaaaallllllllllllll* by himself. That's what makes him so fucking haunting.
That is so true. He is unable to escape his demons. He let them consume him. He doesn't care if the whole world hates him as long as he matters. He also hates being ignored and the truth.
I think what makes him so uncomfortable, at least for me, is that clay is a real person. Someone like him does exist out there.
@@cfftfffffgggfftotcjy that is do true. People like him can't deal with life and make others miserable while their own lives are miserable as well
clay is a garbage cunt but bloberta and his coddling mother played a huge role in it as well. bloberta just hides it by evoking pity.
All because he got gaslighted into marrying a desperate young alcoholic women he just met
It's insane to think about how the writing in this episode works around the hunting trip. This happened right after he shot his son. It's like he's asking for punishment.
He LITERALLY is.
Technically he is, bc Clay’s way of getting love is by being shamed and beaten
Ties into his relationship with his own das too
He actually wants to feel “love” in this moment because he sees pain as affection
10:10 And just like that, the cycle repeats itself, Clay once again desperate to receive a reaction out of people in order to feel important enough to warrant their attention and ire, that he's worth something.
And just like Arthur, all 3 men realized, Clay wasn't worth it.
despite how shitty the adults in moralton are, it really says a lot how they won’t even sink to clay’s level
@@lgbtqiarights that is so true. He's still a child in an adult's body. He can't make Orel into him, his wife is cheating on him again, and no one is going to hit him because he's not worth it.
@@AH-is5yg yeah and Clay eventually alienates Daniel.
@@bcrunch4232 True, sad about all of this is that Clay refused to admit his flaws and pushed away those who did care and love him. Clay has no one else to blame but himself.
@@AH-is5yg Yeah and he’ll die miserable.
When Clay doesn't want to talk about the hunting trip, I feel like he does feel some guilt about it, but he's such a miserable person that he won't admit it for the sake of his pride. He always blames others to make up for his own insecurities.
it's because he remembers when he "shot" his mother
Now oral....
guilty guilty guilty hehe
He later says to Orel he's glad he shot him. So, I wouldn't bet on him feeling guilty.
@@Aivottaja it's because clay is a childish person
he is not unaware of the fact of those nightmares he has at night about his mother and his son saying dad after shooting him
I think he only briefly feels guilt, then drowns it out until he no longer feels guilty.
@@Aivottaja Just because he said that doesn't mean he isn't feeling any guilt. People say something they didn't mean all the time.
3:23 *cue intense beat drop*
thank you for the reference
lmao
the whole song is an amazing accentuation of everything this scene is already doing; but my god, that one drop really knocks the ball out of the park
Sewerslvt anyone?
@@kami6623 hell yeah
Clay is the most lawful evil complex character i ever seen in a cartoon.
I’d think that’d be Censordoll
@@nathanielrodriguez1873 She’s sorta a Neutral Evil.
Clay is the most saddest character in this series, in my opinion.
I think he’s more of a neutral evil
@@refined1 I’d reverse those personally.
probably my favorite thing about Clay is he’s he villain of his own life just as much as he’s the villain of everyone else’s
he had many things that could lead to happiness, but he’s so drowned in his own misery and hang ups, he just doesn’t care and ruins it all
For as much as he hates Blobertta and blames her for much of his unhappiness never forget that the one thing he actually likes in the entire show, alcohol, was something he didn't have until he met her.
Even when someone is projecting a toxic trait onto Clay he still feels the need to take the worst from the experience rather than try and make something good out of it. Even someone as awful as Blobertta gave Clay something that he could have found some way to appreciate, and he still found a way to make it absolutely miserable.
2:19 that dead serious “If I go into work today … I’m gonna kill somebody” has been rent free in my head as a working man for years. Not that I ever would, but I’ve had days.
Don’t forget about “stinking dead-end job”
Try to find an outlet we are all atomized by the capitalist system but we got this
Shapey saying that breaks my heart, the poor thing. I just wanna give him a hug because he's so starved for genuine love and attention. The only coherent sentence he says and it's a deeply hurt expression of his loneliness.
I can't believe a claymation show made me wanna cry 😭
DRINK
It doesn't matter how many times I think or read about it, the fact that Tigger was the one who came up with that line and just said it to Dino out of the blue one day astounds me.
This is why block stayed, he didn’t choose to stay with Bloberta, clay, or even Orel, block stayed because Shapey was there.
Clay could be one of my fav depictions of Satan in fiction.
Not only is he deceptive and holding a position of power, but he's a horrible person, like overall. His misery turned him into a destructive person who takes advantage of other people's weaknesses, even at their worst. However, when these three men at the bar realize how pathetic Clay is himself, they just leave him be. His son and his wife can't have that luxury, and Orel gets it the hardest when Clay tries and shatters his innocence by making him shoot an animal and then some.
Clay is the show's statement that it's possible for a person to be alive and yet burning in hell
Also much like Satan, you don't need to entretain his blasphemy, once you realize that the power he has upon you is tge power you give to him, all you need to do is ignore him, leave him to rot in his own fiery pits and decide to go to the light (or the excessively shining outside of a bar), since he can't really do anything, but weep upon his misery...
Clay in this show has always made me think of Dante's conception of Satan; blind, frozen up to the waist, eternally gnawing at Judas' head. God is supposed to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, so in depicting his antithesis Dante sought to portray him as ignorant, impotent, and hateful. Evil isn't some all-pervasive cosmic force of destruction, it's a variety of woundedness, a state of fear that refuses to temper itself with love. Clay's glowing,red, fly-ridden face in "Nature" IS the face of the devil, just as it can show through each of ours at our worst, and the devil's face is twisted with disappointment, confusion, desperation, terror, and spite, always pathetic and ineffective in the grand scheme.
@@Hiro_RamoneYou're attempting to talk in metaphor but still writing as if Satan is literally some guy in a bar. I'll tell you what? I'll name my first son AA (Antichrist Allin named after Jesus Christ Allin) and you can call him Satan whenever he's pissed.
I feel like dolly really wanted to backhand clay here but she realized he probably like unilaterally pays the bills with his drinking.
That why she was nothing but polite and understanding to him.
Also probably because, if I was in her position, I wouldn't exactly want to set off an already sardonic, sexually repressed psycho-man who's bordeline admitting to child abuse, who's already on the verge of snapping. I'd be scared shitless if I was her.
dolly sounds so cute!!! wish this series lasted longer. maybe we could’ve seen her more!
She has the same voice actor as Orel
@@TheDude8008 ik !!
She’s probably like, the most normal character in the show. Literally just a normal person.
@@acidicali7776 fr
She also voices Ashley in Resident Evil 4!
it's so impressive how these are clay figures, yet with the perfect voice actors and facial expressions they can seem even more expressive than humans at times, this show is so amazing bro
That’s the magic of claymation
If you want to see even better use of stop motion, I’d recommend watching Anamolisa, which Dino and Dan Harmon both produced. It uses stop motion to tell one of the most human stories I’ve ever seen.
Note: I want to point out that at some point, Clay says "Golly". As if taking some traits in Orel, like he did with his Father
oh that’s hilarious. clay’s “golly” is so cynical while orel is just like “golly! 😧”
where is that part?
@@BirdManor 5:57
@@samc5602 thanks
@@BirdManor Here's both Clay and Orel for comparison ig
Clay: 5:57
Orel: 10:50
im sorry but im fucking obsessed with the face animation at 8:45 you can really FEEL how clay's festering anger turns into this hopelessness and see how he can burst out crying right then and there until he represses again and decide to hold onto that anger. Meromorphic was right you can really see a glimpse of baby Clay in that moment and it hurts (he deserves the pain tho)
Clay saying "golly": 5:57
Orel saying "golly": 10:50
Its Clay's drunken ":3" expression for me
:3
:3
:3
:3
:3
I really love how even if Putty wanted to rub in how hopeless everyone felt, but still wanted to remind that even if it feels far away there is always hope
Idk why this show was canceled. It was genius. The majority of this episode takes place ranting in a bar, but it’s intriguing and just pulls you down further down the rabbit hole.
It got too dark and depressing. It is interesting and it's one of those things that people will get later on in life but I guess they flew too close to the sun with that.
It got too dark and didn’t fit adult swim’s target audience of stoners and late night alcoholics
it got too dark for even the standards of adult swim
On some streaming service these days, it would've thrived.
This is probably the closest Clay has ever come to being self aware about his issues.
8:59 This show has such meticulous sound design, even for things as small as the doctor's sweat. I love it.
This episode shows how much Clay didn't change when he was a child.
This is the episode before we find out what Clay's job actually is, which makes this even more interesting on rewatch
I know right? One of Moralton's own police officers isn't afraid to almost assault their mayor, which is really interesting
@@josephdiforte7762 Assault nothin, he was gonna pistol whip his ass.
I dont think him being mayor was something they thought of ahead of time
How did he even become mayor?
@@shovelhead3843 the charisma
It’s so fucking sad seeing him want to be punched knowing how he came to associate being hit with worthiness as a child.
Bloberta desperately searching for that handkerchief hurt to watch. Shes so paranoid and beat up she made a mess of her kitchen.
That guilt...
I notice that Office Papermouth looks more like Orel than Clay does. I like to think this is a nice bit of visual foreshadowing of what would have eventually been his role as a proper step father figure in Orel’s life.
good theory, it could be true
Bruh he even acts like Orel im dead 😭
Clay called the officer pathetic even tho he was meant to end up wit clays wife in season 4 , foreshadowed n character development
It was probably meant as irony
BEAR WITH ME, THIS COMMENT IS REALLY REALLY LONG.
I can't be the only one to notice that each person Clay addresses in his bar monologue is a "theme" that he shares with them. When talking to Reverend Putty he addresses premarital loneliness, when talking to Papermouth he addresses dissatisfaction with your wife, when talking to Potterswheel he addresses infidelity. But to me this scene is so much more than just an edgy monologue.
This scene is the explosive culmination of a man who knows every dark corner in Moralton because he's festered in that darkness for years. Clay and Orel seem to be the only ones that possess an awareness of Moralton's true nature, and what they do with that knowledge is different and completely telling of their characters and how they contrast each other. From the very beginning, Clay is collecting entail on the dark secrets each character keeps in the way a dictator stockpiles on nukes. He knows that one day he might have to use those secrets to his advantage. And his timing, as well as his method when he finally does it, are both impeccable.
But one thing has to be established; Moralton knows what happened to Orel on that hunting trip, they just choose to play dumb in order to maintain their twisted status quo. This is proven by the Censordoll campaign's "Big Game" poster showing a crippled Orel in the episode after this one.
BUT because Clay is so in tuned with Moralton's pulse, he knows that everyone else knows. He can feel it. His failure as a father, his inadequacy as a husband, and his reputation as mayor being seriously compromised is driving him into a narcissistic collapse. He can tell he's about to be under attack, so he decides to strike first.
This is how you can tell that Clay is, in a way, a narcissistic mastermind; in the bar scene, Clay manages to harness the established insecurities and dark secrets of every character involved while simultaneously not revealing their insecurities to each other. In this way, Clay, through blackmail and attacking each individual character's dark secrets head on, does multiple things.
Firstly, he subtly establishes individually to each character that he knows their respective secrets; which he then attacks, thus provoking their insecurity. Secondly, he establishes power over them by not announcing their secrets outright, meaning each individual victim has a vested interest in making sure Clay doesn't spill their secret; Clay uses this dynamic to effectively blackmail each person. Thirdly, he uses his newfound control over each character's reputation and self-esteem to pit them against each other as well as drag them to his level so he can avoid the shame of his own secrets. Because he knows Rodger isn't over Florence, he knows Putty slept with Florence and that Putty is pathetically lonely, and he knows that Bloberta basically cheated on him with Potterswheel.
But just the sheer subtlety of Clay collecting entail, how it's shown throughout the show, once you notice it, you just can't unsee it. Like how Clay calls Reverend "Revs" because Clay probably heard Stephanie call Reverend that in the "Be Fruitful and Multiply" episode and gauged the self-deprecating amount of flattery that Putty not only displayed, but was also likely privately humiliated by. It would also explain why Clay is shown looking shocked at Reverend making a fool out of himself in front of Stephanie before walking up after she's gone and asking if she's his type. He's gathering fucking entail.
And when he finally uses "Revs" to address Putty, Putty fucking snaps and resorts to physical violence as a result of what only he and Clay know. It's brilliant.
And Clay portraying Dolly as a whore because he's been at the bar so much that he knows how insecure she is about being sexually objectified, something which was established when Rodger offered money to her for sex in season one. Then the twisted irony of Clay using Dolly as an example to Rodger of how beautiful women will fail you a year after Rodger's attempt to court Dolly.
But nonetheless, Clay's narcissism is hanging by a string and that string is Stopframe. So, when Clay's lost his adequacy as a husband, the respect of his only true son, and the prestige of his position- Stopframe is all he really has left. But when his shallow affair with Censordoll causes Stopframe to pull away, Clay enters a full narcissistic collapse.
Okay, that's all. There's more but I'm tired and I've said my piece. If you made it this far, thank you very much for reading. Toodles!
I promise I have a life outside of Moral Orel
@@Stephen_xvii I agree
@@maylabrown4584 Thank you for reading this lmao
how long did it take you to type this
@@枒 I put more effort into this than I did my college entry exam
The three guys and Dollie walking out on Clay is hundreds of times worse than any physical harm they could've done to him. It was the right thing to do from them
Notice how clay makes a ":3" face
:3
He said :3.
i hate him so much but that was adorable
:3
@@SOMeDoOD1992
Where
9:31 This would be a straight up Rigby line if spoken at a slightly higher octave.
The fact that Clay acknowledges he loves his family deep down makes it even sadder.
Does he a leach loves the blood not the host
I love the whole church part. Just reverend putty seeing that everyone is miserable and then thinking ,,orel!!! :))" and seeing that even OREL IS BEATEN UP AND HOPELESS. OREL. The happiest kid who doesn't get down bc of *anything *. Just the look on orels face. And then reverend putty doing his speech, its so good. Also idk but im really getting the vibes that he specifically wanted to cheer orel up, which would be adorable
I remember Scott Adsit heard Mike Lazzo (head of adult swim, guy who canned the show) say this about the episode: "That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the smartest thing that was ever produced for adult swim. The shows still cancelled by the way"
They really went overboard with "Alone" I still can't believe that aired
@@Chiller326 It was important to display the sexual trauma that occurs and persists in our society. As uncomfortable as it is to watch, confronting people with it is the only way to give some understanding and agency to the issue
@@juannaym8488 while it was certainly a very good and important episode, i still kind of get why they cancelled the show over it. they asked for darker humor, not darker character drama.
@@stanpines9011 that's kinda hypocritical in my opinion
dark humor could've ended in them making Alone more comedic instead of dramatic. It would've covered the same subjects in a more tasteless way
@@juannaym8488 well yes, that's kinda what adult swim wanted them to do, and it would've been tasteless. what it ultimately boils down to is that they didn't do what adult swim wanted, even if it made for a better show, and they got punished for it.
As horrible as Clay is idk why it hurt when he said “that poisoned the others around you...that you loved” as he teared up. That's just crazy to me. Because though out the whole show it gives you the impression that he simply can't love or at least love in a way that isn't toxic or completely twisted. Yet he has feelings. He understands that he wasn't always like this, that there was a time where he kept his horrid “true nature” well hidden and tried for the people he loved, but now like he told Orel in season 1, “there isn't enough room in my heart to love you son” (not the exact quote but something like that). There's too much misery and hatred and therefore poison and evil in his heart fueled by alcohol and certain ppl around him, and now he's able to poisen others where it hurts them the most. He posiened Orel and with it his bright innocence and hope to the point where Orel sees hope in Clay’s lack of presence like what happened in the beginning of the episode where rev said find hope in what isn't there and guess who wasn't at the sermon, Clay.
Holy fucking shit this episode...
WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CANCEL THIS SHOW?!
The episode "Alone" was considered so dark by Adult Swim that they cancelled the show outright. Your show's pretty fucked up if ADULT SWIM thinks you're too dark for them.
@@ChrisBabaganoosh Fun Fact, Fox did the same thing to Christopher Titus, after his mom's suicide.
This is up there with Ozymandias as one of the greatest episodes in television history, mainly attrributed to its screenplay - Dino Stamatopoulos is one of the greats at mastering witty yet grounded dialogue, really seering into the personalities of these clay-animated characters and making them feel incredibly real.
Funny you mention that.
Breaking Bad has Bob Odenkirk as Saul, Bob also created Mr. Show with Bob and David for HBO, which Dino wrote for and Dino, Scott, and Jay acted in.
"When I'm thirsty, it feels how I feel when I'm alone." - Shapey Puppington
I can't hear clays monologue without hearing Junkos breaks behind it now
If this show came out today I feel like people would treat Clay like Rick Sanchez, and worship him in a strange way
Show has a growing fandom and has been around for like 18 years and to this day about .01% of Moral Orel fans by any means idolize him. Moral Orel is just built different
I highly doubt it. Rick has redeeming qualities and Clay has absolutely none. It is easy to sympathize with Clay, but just about no one likes him.
@@definitelynotsiri4058 But it didn't come out today. It has years of history and people actually understanding.
@@definitelynotsiri4058 I'm actually pretty happy this show has become popular now, I rem watching this when I was 7 and being traumatized
@@chelronin7843 Careful you might upset the internet lol
When I'm thirsty it feels how I feel when I'm alone
For some reason this comment finally helped me understand what he meant by that. Thank you.
@@carbonstealer6389 wait i dont get it what revelation did you just have :00
@@higethedog That the reason he asks his mother for "milk" so often is because she's extremely emotionally neglectful and that's the only way he can feel close to / connected to her.
@@carbonstealer6389 thats true too but that comment also means that when you feel thirsty, its a need. It’s something you need to survive. Its saying the company of others is something we humans need just as much as water. At least for some people
I think it was also referencing Clay's drinking
5:52 Clay: >:3
Reverend Putty’s sermons get more realistic and actually useful as the show goes on.
this has some of the best voice acting i ever heard
clay's not even worth it
That's why he got a rise out of people
"not even worth it?"
Not? Worth it?
The reverend, the doctor and the policeman enter in a bar, and they found the mayor there...
It sounds like the start of a joke
2:19- If I go to work today I’m gonna kill somebody
5:17- Clay does his lil dancey dance
5:52- >:3
9:36- D:
It's all come to this. I've heard of this show a few times from a different sources in some different reviews. But I never gave it a try until I heard it sampled in Sewerslvt's work. I caved and binged watch each of these, and I'm close to the end now. Thank you for these uploads, based OP. Take care where ever you are in the world.
wait, moral orel is sampled in something by sewerslvt? please enlighten me on what it is!
@@sweatpantsromance At 2:20 .This part was used at Ecifircas
Do you guys think it’s intentional that Dolly is here and is also voiced by the same actress as Orel?
Orel voice actor is a girl? Damn that’s some talent
@@brandonb4742 yeah!! she voiced sandy cheeks in spongebob, and jimmy neutron!
That could have some symbolism there never thought about that. Bad ass input!
I also find it funny in retrospect that Putty had no second thoughts about threatening violence against an elected official. Clay must just be that pathetic, I guess.
“When I’m thirsty, it feels how I feel when I’m alone.”
The reason i started to watch this show was because sewerslvt sampled clays speech about sacrifices in one of her songs, im so happy they did cause this is one of the best shows ive watched.
What song?
@@TheFattestBlunt. ecifircas - sewerslvt
>her
lol
2:19 what you probably came here for
sewerslvt meme yes
9:53 In the words of the illustrious Arthur Puppington "You're not even worth it...."
I’ve seen people who drink a lot or do drugs ramble about their lives, and Clay sounds exactly like one of those people when he rambles.
How did his voice actor perfectly capture how a broken person acts and sounds?!
The start of this episode is so underrated because the followup makes it pale in comparison. That realisation Orel has after Putty did his sermon is one of the best moments of the entire show.
This is officially my 200th rewatch of this episode.
I love how this reads like a play
Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
Okay cole i get the point
NO, YOU DON'T!!!
@@generalstorm8381 aaaaaand over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
*reverend puty opens the door*
@@kdoesthings2548 IT’S OVER
@@definitelynotsiri4058 AUGH THE DOOR
Here’s an Interesting Fact, if the Show hadn’t been Cancelled there would have been an Episode where Bloberta runs off with with Officer Papermouth.
We really need a reboot of the series 😔
The "camera" in this episode is so good
I’ve noticed a pattern in clays rants, he starts off calm and depressing when talking about his “sad” life and he blames himself. He starts so vulnerably but almost human. This is w you should stop clay before he goes on because the more he goes on, the more he realizes meaning the angrier and unhinged he gets. He also has this habit where he gets very defensive when someone tries to cut him off of his speech. An example of this is when he was giving his father bible verses as a kid and when his dad told him “that’s enough” clay still talked over him agitated like he wanted to get the word out no matter what. And another is shown in this video where the bartender says she gets what he’s talking about and he yells that she doesn’t instantly.
9:35 "You are not worth it" flashbacks.
5:53 y’all he made the :3 face omg
8:35 - he's talking about orel...
Alot of people thought he was talking about Daniel but it's definitely Orel.
@@Killgore-ip2yq definitely. it doesn't make sense for him to be talking about stopframe - since when has he ever been hurt by clay's actions? (at this particular point in the series.)
and anyway, his romance with stopframe was mostly a semi-comedic thing, while clay and orel's relationship is like the central relationship of the show. makes a lot more sense for this big climactic monologue to be about orel.
Clay might be the most complex and fucked up fictional character ever thought up of
Welcome to the nhk might be enjoyable for you
I love how Clay is a terrible person, and yet he still has a few moments of self-reflection. It really drives home the emotional beats.
God. The animation, the script, the voice acting it's all just amazing. It's so good.
I can't believe that this entire show is available for free on youtube.
7:21 where the rant starts
He is telling the truth.
@@weirddd469 just listen and understand it
Clay: If that one gets too sweaty I have an extra one for you.
Me: I'm sweating and that rant wasn't even directed at me. JESUS!
5:53 Clay's "òwó" face for anyone who wants it as a pfp
2:20 I get the feeling that this line would’ve been foreshadowing had the show kept going considering everything we witnessed Clay do this whole series I honestly wouldn’t be as surprised if he actually did kill someone at his “Stinking Dead-end” Job.
Ecifircas - Sewerslvt samples (In order of appearance)
2:19
7:51
7:10
5:52
Rodger and Putty: D:<
Clay: >:3
also imagined if one of them said "you're not even worth it." like his father did. I know that would hurt even more for him.
I've never seen a full episode of Moral Orel before. I'm sorta self-sabotaging my experience with this show by spoiling one of the last episodes. It's just morbid curiosity because I love that Sewerslvt track.
But holy crap, that was one of the best pieces of animated television I've ever watched. What a trip. I'm glad I watched this. This is a master class in writing. The horribleness and viscera of his speech will fester in my mind for years to come.
PLEASE tell me you watched the whole show.
thankfully it's not that big of a spoiler honestly
I Have A Feeling Clay Knew That Reverend Putty Slept With Florence.
did u see the beginning lol
Notice how Clay starts crying once he talks about “poisoning others around him.” Yeah, this whole rant is about other people but this part really gets to him because he knows deep down what a monster he has been to his family. Damn, how do you feel hate a character yet feel bad for them at the same time?
God fucking damn. I found this show from a song. Ecifricas by sewerslvt. The voice lines from this episode gave me such chills that I knew I had to watch it.
And now I have, binged it in 2 days. This show is so phenomenal. It’s so??? Insanely good ????? I can’t describe the feelings it’s made me feel.
The complexities of All the characters keep you interested and god orel makes me sad. MAN IDK 10/10 I just needed to comment
Shapey had one line... and that was delivered beautifully.
The ultimate sacrifice…”my happiness” for my kids and family. Sheesh this one was deep
Dolly’s sass is spot on
5:53 Clay’s that ;3 face
The thing is that I relate to him a lot, on a deeper level, no matter how much of a jackass he is, i understand him
Happy Easter Clay.
2:50 sewerslvt fans this is what you are hear for
When shapey talks thats when shit goes down