| Sacrifice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season 3, Episode 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Air date |
November 17, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Directed by | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Episode Guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous Sundays |
Next Nesting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season Guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Plot[]
This episode starts with a flashback to the episode "Numb", which shows how Clay has found Dr. Potterswheel's handkerchief at home. The rest of the episode takes place very shortly after the conclusion of "Sundays". Reverend Putty, as dejected as the rest of the congregation, delivers a quick Easter sermon about how nothingness can mean hope, as when the tomb was opened after Jesus' death.
Clay, who has skipped church, goes to Forghetty's to drown his sorrows. Reverend Putty, Officer Papermouth and Potterswheel later join him, with Putty breaking up with Florence as he enters. Clay launches into a series of alcohol-fueled despondent rants, threatening that he will kill someone if he has to go into work and claiming to make repeated sacrifices for his family.
Unfortunately, the conversation eventually turns for the worst; Clay then targets everyone in the establishment. He mocks Papermouth for Florence sleeping with another man (hinting that it's Putty), becomes a chauvinist to Dolly, and implies that Potterswheel gave his wife an overdose of painkillers instead of medicine when she was sick. Clay rants about relationships and tries to goad everyone into hitting him, but instead the bartender and three men walk out of the bar, seeing that he is not worth it. A defeated Clay fumes that the town's role-models have made Orel "sensitive".
At home, Orel tries unsuccessfully to call Clay at the bar and Bloberta searches frantically for Potterswheel's handkerchief. Shapey says his first complete sentence ("When I'm Thirsty, it feels how I feel when I'm alone."), leading Orel to remark how things have changed. The episode ends with Clay going into the nature reserve and coming back with a bear strapped to the roof of his car.
Characters[]
Minor appearances[]
- Orel Puppington
- Florence Papermouth
- Shapey Puppington
- Bloberta Puppington
- Block Posabule (doesn't speak)
Notes[]
- "Bottomless Pit" by Savoy plays during the end credits.
- This episodes (Along with the majority of Season Three, and the Nature two-parter) was meant to signify how much of bad person Clay Puppington really is.
- According to Dino Stamatopoulos and Scott Adsit, there was going to be another episode following after this titled "Easter" where Orel's Grandfather (Arthur Puppington) would come to visit his family upon finding out that he's terminally ill and sharing the same room and bed with Orel, while Clay goes to retrieve the bear Orel shot. However, due to the third season being cut down to only thirteen episodes because Moral Orel itself was getting too depressing, the idea was scrapped. It has been rumored that Dino himself might have completed the script for said episode, but it's never been confirmed.
- Similarly, There was also going to be another follow-up episode that would focus on both Shapey and Block title "Nurture", where the two boys would bond together by nurturing each other and growing emotionally, no longer become unruly. This also went unproduced for the same reason. Two possibilities about this unproduced episode is that Shapey and Block would both end up speaking more coherently instead of only using usually one-word sentences, as its shown as the end when Shapey tells Bloberta how he feels; and that Shapey would eventually become a police officer and Block would become fireman, Judging by what is shown at the end of "Honor" when Orel is an Adult.
- It's also possible that It would have a tie-in to another unproduced episode confirmed by Dino, in which Bloberta Puppington has an affair and develops a relationship with Officer Papermouth, as it would be likely that the latter was to eventually become Shapey's new father, and that he might have been what inspired Shapey to become a policeman as we can see in the photo of Shapey at the end of "Honor".
- This is one of the very few episodes where Orel Puppington himself barely has any involvement, with the other examples being "Be Fruitful and Multiply", "Repression", "Courtship", "Numb", "Alone", "Dumb", "Help", "Passing", and "Sundays".
- This episode also marks the first (and only as of now) time where Shapey himself would speak in complete sentences, as we can see at the end.