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    Fridge Brilliance 

  • At first, it seems ridiculous how Orel can misinterpret anything. Then you realize that Moralton's educational system is backwards (at best) and that most of the people he interacts with have...flawed morals. Also, the "Lost Commandments", which were made up by Clay and/or Clay's mother and were used by Clay to further control Orel.
    • The "Lost Commandments" are actually a family tradition for Clay. In "Passing", A young Clay is seen quoting one of these "Lost" Commandments.
  • This entry from the Crowning Moments of Awesome Page did it for me:
    Sick of him, Reverend Putty, Officer Papermouth and Doctor Potterswheel get ready to beat the shit out of Clay in "Sacrifice" - then they decide that he isn't worth it and walk away. (Awesomer when you remember that Clay's dad does essentially the same thing— even as an adult, Clay seeks attention through abuse— and fails.)
  • Orel is waving to God, not the camera, in the show's opening.
    • This is confirmed in "Praying", where Orel says "Hi, God" while waving.
  • If you think about it, Clay really does have a dead-end job. Once you're already the mayor, you really can't get much higher.
    • Well, technically no, there's also State Governer, and the President. I mean, Moralton (judging by the fact that in the opening, Moralton is labeled with a star) is the capital of Statesota, and Moralton grew to take over America.
  • Why does Clay always punish Orel for the wrong things? Well, most of the real problems Orel causes are the result of following Clay's (or Reverend Putty's) advice a little too literally. If Clay punished Orel for it, he'd be teaching Orel to think carefully about his actions instead of blindly doing what authority figures tell him, which is the exact opposite of the mindset Clay's abuse is meant to instill in Orel.
  • The final episode is a complete reversal of the show's formula. In a season 1 or 2 episode, Orel would learn some kind of life lesson from one of the townsfolk, immediately take it to heart while going to its Logical Extreme, and then learn a twisted Spoof Aesop from Clay. In "Honor" Orel learns a lesson from Clay ("Honor thy father") then spends the whole episode conflicted about it as he can't actually find anything honorable about his father, and then learns a genuinely good aesop from Coach Stopframe about how creating Orel is one of the few honorable things Clay ever did.
  • Clay's name. Clay is something that is molded; Clay was molded primarily by his mother (who has her own Meaningful Name, Angela) into the person he is today, and he now tries to mold his own son into a person that fits his skewed worldview. Going even further, as the mayor, Clay is also molding the town into his image, which explains a lot about Moralton. And, of course, the show itself is made using claymation.
  • In the episode "Closeface," Orel asks God if He minds him taking Christina to a dance, and takes Block (who was still switched with Shapey) saying "No!" as a sign from God. Why? Well, in "The Best Christmas Ever," Orel came to the conclusion that Shapey was the second coming of Jesus, and nobody actually told him otherwise. Since Block and Shapey are Inexplicably Identical Individuals, and Orel presumably still thinks Shapey is Jesus, he probably figured an answer from Block was close enough.
  • One of Bloberta's only Pet the Dog moments was in "Honor," when she asked why Orel wasn't Christmas caroling with the rest of the family. This makes sense; from the small glimpses we got of Bloberta's own family in "Help," it's clear that she knows how it feels to be excluded from family activities.
  • In "The Lord's Prayer", the Puppingtons and the Posabules cut ties from each other due to using a slightly different prayer to say grace, despite the fact that they had been getting along and had many things in common before then. However, in season 3, it's revealed just how much both Clay and Bloberta are huge Stepford Smilers and just how deeply they hate each other and themselves and it's also hinted that the Posabule parents are no different. It could be interpreted that part of the reason they decided to cut ties is because they are almost exactly alike and they were using the prayer as an excuse.
  • During sex with Principal Fakey, Nurse Bendy barely even reacts to it. It comes off initially as if she's too dumb to even care, but after season 3, we learn she does it because she believes it's her obligation(or she has been tricked into it), not because she wants to.
  • Clay and Bloberta's dysfunctional marriage and hatred towards each other is explained in "Help" and also due to Bloberta's unfaithfulness and Clay's alcohol addiction...however, despite their hatred, they actually have much in common:
    • They both came from dysfunctional families, was loved by one parents and despised by the other, they are both slaves to their addictions (alcohol and cleaning), they only got married out of necessity, they hide behind their religion to excuse their actions and refuse to take responsibility for their actions and refuse to accept that their lives turned out this way because of the poor choices they made, which shows just how much alike they are, despite their hatred for each other. Another reason why Clay and Bloberta may hate each other is because they are so much alike. "Help" and "Passing" shows their past and how much self-loathing they have deep down...so, part of the reason they hate their respective spouse is because they know that they are no different from them and hate being reminded of that.
  • It makes sense that when Orel causes a huge amount of trouble that even the local law enforcement get involved, the police let Clay punish Orel. Considering that Clay is the mayor of Moralton, he probably has the authority to punish his own son instead of letting the local police handle it.
  • In "Nature", Clay switches the words "bright" and "blight" with each other right before his rant, even asserting he meant what he said. Clay is a self-hating man who desperately wants to be hated to feel alive and acknowledged. He is thankful for the bad things in his life and hates all the good in it because of his skewed perceptions and the realization that he has a lot to be thankful for but he is miserable.
  • In "Dumb," why does Joe's half-sister have no reaction to a furious Joe beating their father to a pulp? Because she knows the truth about what Dr. Secondopinionson did to Nurse Bendy, and she knows what her dad did was reprehensible. However, legally speaking, Dr. Secondopinionson's dementia would render him unfit to stand trial, so even if the story were to come out, there would be no way for him to be punished in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, Joe beating up his dad is the closest thing the latter is ever going to get to Laser-Guided Karma.
  • A Running Gag throughout the series is that Shapey still breastfeeds, despite being a seven-year-old. Considering a big part of Bloberta's character is that she's desperate to feel loved and wanted, it does make sense. What better way to show her worth as a mother/person than to literally use her body to feed her "baby?"
  • All throughout "Nature", Clay displays an alarming lack of maturity, not just in his treatment of Orel. He shoots at anything that moves, is very reckless with his firearm, mocks Oral for wanting to eat when he didn't kill anything and goes back and forth on taking things deadly seriously and treating it like a game he can taunt his son over. There are no emergency provisions which would be needed to keep the trip fun, no real lessons on how or what to shoot and no real father-son bonding time. Trip aside, most hunters have reservations about shooting certain animals, such as does who may have fawns somewhere, or bears who are - in reality - far more dangerous and difficult to take down than depicted in the show. Finally, many hunters show respect for the game who manage to get away because of natural selection; an animal that escapes a hunter most be especially alert or swift, thus they deserve to live more than the game that was shot. Contrast this to Clay who is so trigger-happy and eager to kill that he shoots a hunting dog for fun and regards the animals with malice. This is basically a child's glamorized idea of a hunting or fishing trip, where your catch is your dinner and if not you go hungry, and you get bragging rights for bigger kills - with Clay practically shaking with joy at the sight of a dead bear that he can show off. Come Season 3, we learn that although Clay knew about the hunting trip, he never went on it himself, so he never learned any of this or had the coming-of-age experience such trips are often supposed to be, and continued to see it has a simple Blood Sport that proves your manliness.

    Fridge Horror 

  • When you consider the fact that Orel's short claymation film includes his dad's belt wrapping around puppet Orel like a snake.
    • And, a bit crude, but relevant: Clay's hair and jacket are brown. Of course he's covered with flies, he's a piece of shit.
  • In "Turn the Other Cheek", after following Clay's (poor) advice, Orel starts attacking everyone who has their hand raised in a fist, including his own parents. Orel also gives a very brutal beating to Clay and even after it's done, Clay chooses not to punish him since he knows that Orel followed his advice and doing so would be admitting that he was wrong. The truly disturbing part comes after you rewatch this episode after already seeing season 3. In season 3, it's revealed that Clay, who was abused by his father as a child, has a very warped mindset and associates abuse with affection. In other words, it's possible that the real reason he did not punish Orel is because he enjoyed the beating he received from his own son.
  • At the beginning of part two of "Nature", Orel doesn't wave to the camera / God for once, and is instead deep in prayer. Considering the events of the episode, it's Foreshadowing for the fact that what will occur is going to heavily try Orel compared to the series' usual hijinks and inflict a permanent change to his character.
  • A subtler example of Clay's selfishness and hypocrisy during "Nature" takes place after he finally comes to after his drunken bender and refuses to take responsibility for shooting Orel, reasoning that he doesn't remember it, therefore it didn't happen. Less than a minute later, Orel lies that Clay was the one who shot the bear (when in reality Orel did it to defend him) and Clay more than happy to take credit for that instead, despite admitting to not remembering it.
  • Consider how awful the Puppingtons' home life is. Now consider how, while Shapey runs right back to his mother in "Numb", Block stays with her. Adding that it was Bloberta who first realized the difference of the adults, how horrible must the Posabules really be?!
    • In "The Lord's Prayer," Christina can be seen getting spanked by her own father (in silhouette) the same way Orel gets spanked by Clay. With this in mind, it's not hard to figure that the Earn Your Happy Ending moment Orel gets in the series finale was also one for Christina.
    • In the Distant Finale, there's pictures in the wall of Clay, Bloberta, Shapey and Block but there's no pictures of Christina and Block's parents, this could imply that despite everything Orel still loves his parents but Christina's parents were so awful she didn't bothered to keep them around.
  • In what could also fall under Fridge Brilliance, in the episode "Sundays", Dottie says she wishes her adopted daughter's twin would die already. In the timeline of when that took place, she would get her wish, as the twin was murdered by the zombies Orel summoned (since that particular part ran alongside the episode "The Lord's Greatest Gift").
  • Remember how "Alone" mentioned that Creepler "didn't like blondes" and how Nurse Bendy dyes her hair blonde, on top of having some, um, "hang ups"? Something might clue the viewer that she dyed her hair so "serial adulterer" Creepler wouldn't come after her. Or, alternatively, since she shows up in a newspaper clipping, she may have encountered him once.
    • Or, it might not even have to do with Creepler. In "Dumb," Nurse Bendy mentions that Joe's dad used to give her compliments and be nice to her...that is, until Joe came along. It's not a stretch to assume that one of the older men who routinely uses Bendy would tell her she's prettier as a blonde.
  • Miss Sculptham's segment in "Alone" is upsetting enough on its own, but an easy-to-miss detail opens up a whole other layer of disturbing implications. There's a picture in Agnes's apartment that shows a family tree including her, her parents, and her grandparents. Of particular note is Agnes's maternal grandfather. Namely, he resembles none other than Cecil Creepler. Who's to say Agnes's encounter with Creepler was the first time she was sexually assaulted?
  • In "Nesting", Miss Censordoll refers to eggs as "symbols of life". Eggs also happen to be her favorite food, which she eats by sucking them dry, as it was shown in "Offensiveness".
    • Speaking of Miss Censordoll, it's heavily implied that the reason she's aged so badly is because she doesn't possess reproductive organs...because her mother had them removed when she was a baby. What kind of mother would do that to their child, and what kind of doctor would actually go through with such a procedure?
  • "God's Chef" involved Orel impregnating numerous women. Moralton is strongly Christian, meaning abortion is likely illegal. Unless every woman ran to a back alley abortion clinic or the town made a special exception, then Orel has numerous children to his name.
  • It isn't outright said, but maybe a reason why Ms. Censordoll is beyond all kinds of nuts is because of her not having her reproductive system (or most of it).
  • "Narcissism's" script reveals that Nurse Bendy is 24. Her son is 12.
  • In "Elemental Orel," Marionetta brings the donation money out of Mr. Creepler's van. This is before the episode where we learn he's a pedophile.
  • In "Numb," Mr. Nohammer arranges a bunch of cylindrical power tools, regardless of purpose, on one shelf in his store. Not only does he know what Bloberta, and likely the other women of Moralton, really use them for, they're more willing to mutilate themselves with power tools than use any safer alternatives from Buried Pleasures.
  • Clay is likely headed for an early death: on top of his extreme alcoholism, his utterly broken mental state could cause him complications like hypertension. Granted, he would kind of have it coming, but it would still be depressing and painful to witness.
  • In "Grounded," Clay prohibits Orel from attending church, which causes Orel to have a mental breakdown and give himself near-death experiences in order to be "closer to God." Going to church is the main bright spot of Orel's life, and losing it meant he had no escape from the way his family treats him. Even before the fateful hunting trip (which, coincidentally, is what the events of this episode lead up to), Orel knew on some level that the way his family operates is not normal.


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