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LC #28: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
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| Praying | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season 2, Episode 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Air date |
April 30, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Episode Guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous Be Fruitful and Multiply |
Next Repression | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season Guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As the date of a praying competition approaches Orel learns the townspeople have bet heavily on him, but when he experiences a crisis of confidence while training for the event he prays for help and receives it from an unexpected source.
Plot[]
Orel is entered into a praying competition against the Begging Mantises, an extremely powerful team of prayers with a record of 50 wins to 0 losses. In order to train him, he is forced to practice praying every day; however, halfway into the training sessions, he is no longer able to pray, as forcing himself to pray causes him incredible pain. Desperate, he attempts to pray at a local park to God for help on praying, and an ad for Buried Pleasures, Stephanie's sex shop, blows into his face. Convinced that God had sent him there as the answer, an obviously-stressed Orel goes to Stephanie for advice, who gives him a pack of incense and a vinyl disc containing Buddhist chants, telling him that he can use it to relax.
Orel plays the disc in his room, lighting the incense, and finds that meditation serves him well in helping him relax. Meanwhile, Clay comes home from his "stinking dead-end job" and Bloberta tells him that Principal Fakey has called for him. It is revealed that there are a lot of bets made for Orel to win. Clay finds Orel meditating and promptly admonishes him for using Buddhism at all, citing it as a "Communist cult" that allows any religion under the sun, then explains to Orel about the concept of dogma as restrictions on religion, stating that "It sounds cute enough to make you want to throw it a bone."
The day of the praying competition comes, and it is shown that the Begging Mantises are very, very tough; one competitor is shown walking off the stage with heavily bleeding hands. The competition begins as both Orel and the leader of the Begging Mantises start praying with an obviously large amount of effort. Dogma literally starts stressing Orel as the heads of Clay, Fakey, Putty, and the nurse, all on dog bodies, start verbally attacking Orel. Orel then throws an imaginary bone at the dogs and while watching the dogs run towards it, he is transported into his own Nirvana, where he converses with Buddha. Orel accepts that he can use Buddhist techniques in order to become a good Christian, and the Buddha's face slowly transforms into Orel's face as Orel becomes "awake". Buddha tells Orel to not tell anyone else in Moralton, then is absorbed into Orel as the viewers are taken back to the real world, where Orel is calm, but Clay is looking extremely mad. However, the Begging Mantis member is horribly stressed out and he collapses, and Orel is declared the winner. Clay transforms from angry to happy and joins the crowd in cheer as Orel's friends crowd near him to congratulate him. The scene ends with Orel still in meditative pose, slightly levitating from the ground, as he slowly uncrosses his legs, sets himself back on Earth, and joins his friends.
Characters[]
Minor[]
Notes[]
- This episode's intro has Orel saying "Hi, God" repeatedly and waving to camera.
- Buddha at one point says: "Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of that candle will not be shortened"
Episode Tie-Ins[]
- Repression - At the beginning of this episode you see Principal Fakey asking Nurse Bendy to check his "lower area" for lice, unzipping his fly.