Common Side Effects: the Mushroom vs the System

We'd be tripping if we said Common Side Effects wasn't one of the best premieres of the year. While February feels like ages ago given the sheer amount of information we absorb day after day, and there are still months left before 2025 wraps up, this animated series built up real hype before its release and delivered on the expectations we had after that pilot dropped on Adult Swim's YouTube channel a year earlier.

What made this series stand apart from the rest? Mushrooms, corporate conspiracies, and Harry Belafonte.

Created by Joe Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (Veep), absolute heavyweights in the animation world, and with legends like Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, Idiocracy, and other strokes of genius) on board as producer, Common Side Effects hit hard with that trailer/short that dropped in 2024. It was a punchy 6-minute knockout that introduced the main characters and the central conflict with incredible finesse. A short film in its own right that could have ended there, but thankfully convinced Adult Swim to bet on a first season. The hook? A blend of storytelling and direction that calls to mind Fargo and other Coen brothers works.

Marshall is a mycologist who discovers a mushroom that cures everything, which would put the entire pharmaceutical industry and political institutions at risk. Fate crosses his path with Frances, a former classmate who now works as an assistant to the owner of a major pharmaceutical company. They both get caught up in a massive mess surrounding this mushroom that will force them to face off against the worst of the State and the private sector.

The Mushroom vs the System

In a remote valley in Peru grows a mushroom called Blue Angel, a miraculous specimen because it not only cures diseases but can also defeat death itself. But when people consume it, they experience a trip to a space the mind can't reach through its neural networks, triggering visions and even connections with other people from that state.

Mushrooms have historically been a catalyst for altered states in our body and mind. Ever since someone ate one and had their mind blown -- there's no record of it, but it was surely one hell of a trip for that prehistoric human -- their use has been tied to medicine, food, and rituals seeking the expansion of the senses. In recent years, we've seen the "Fungi kingdom" gain more presence in our everyday lives, from the creation of processed foods and gastronomic businesses based on mushrooms, to that friend who started doing microdoses to cope with the world, to the rise of "performance" supplements made from cordyceps.

The series uses the Blue Angel as a miraculous cure-all that we don't fully understand but could change everything if released to the world, threatening the forces of pharmaceutical capital. Which intends to keep it under wraps or, if that's impossible, package it as just another product, much like the ones mentioned above. That's how Marshall Cuso, the protagonist who lives a Low Tech High Life kind of life, wants to turn his discovery into a gift for the world but is hunted by pharmaceutical companies that have the DEA and several U.S. officials in their pocket to stop him.

These ideas about what to do with such a monumental discovery and how it affects a system that would rather watch you die than lose its profits are pretty timely, and Common Side Effects tackles them through the lens of animated characters that feel remarkably real.

The Magic of Creating Humans

The pilot that dropped in 2024 was a perfect slice to sell the series. You could tell there was something new going on, or at least a narrative quality above what we'd been seeing in animated series. While there's some humor and situational comedy, the show has a lot of crime drama, thriller elements, and no shortage of action. But its real strength lies in the construction of characters from their very introduction (like the DEA agents, Copano & Harrington, enjoying a hot dog while listening to Harry Belafonte in their car). The narrative it evokes is -- as I mentioned at the start -- worthy of Fargo and is aligned with that way of building characters a la Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, the Coens, or Taika Waititi. It's the small details crafted by the trifecta of writing, voice acting, and animation that make each character stand out.

Common Side Effects is produced by Bandera Entertainment and Green Street Pictures (both quality stamps) and has announced its second season, with no release date yet, for HBO MAX and Adult Swim. So go ahead and take this trip to enjoy one of the best series of 2025.