Common Side Effects Is Keeping Surreal Adult Animation Alive

Marshall (voiced by Dave King) prefers to keep to himself. He’s a socially awkward but brilliant researcher whose button-up shirt is permanently unbuttoned. Marshall is the kind of guy who would rather hang out with his tortoise named Socrates than be the center of attention — but when he makes the scientific discovery of a lifetime, he becomes the subject of an epic manhunt that finds him being hunted by people he once trusted, the DEA, and god only knows who else.

Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, from Green Street Pictures (creators of the terrific and gone-too-soon Scavengers Reign), begins with Marshall protesting the CEO of Reutical Pharmaceuticals at a conference over the destruction of indigenous communities in Peru over toxic waste dumping. There, he has a chance encounter with his former crush and high-school lab partner Frances (Emily Pendergast). Or, at least, he thinks it’s a chance encounter. Frances is actually the assistant to the same insufferable CEO Marshall argues with, but that’s a fact she hides from him.

As the two catch up on the years since high school, Marshall reveals a major, world-altering medical discovery secret to Frances: He’s uncovered a medicine — a mushroom known as the blue angel — that can cure anything. The skeptical Frances is quickly won over when Marshall breaks a pigeon's neck and heals it seconds later. Marshall’s hope is an ambitious one. He wants to revolutionize the broken healthcare industry in America and across the world by making the blue angel mushroom publicly and freely available. Frances’ company Reutical is destroying the very place where the blue angel mushroom grows. At a time when healthcare feels increasingly unaffordable and a particularly hot topic, Marshall’s words feel frighteningly timely: “We spend more money than ever on healthcare and everyone’s still sick. The whole system is sick,” he tells Frances. The mushroom, according to Marshall, would put everyone who profits off sickness out of business. That’s a big problem for Rick and other medical corporations, who want to see Marshall — and especially the blue angel mushroom — wiped off the face of the Earth.

Common Side Effects, directed by Joe Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (30 Rock), has no interest in beating around the bush. It’s an effective skewering of the oligarchs controlling American healthcare, showcasing how savage and unfair a system that’s meant to benefit the masses can be. That’s not exactly new information: We’ve seen plenty of shows express how cruel the U.S. healthcare system is. What makes Common Side Effects unique is that it’s more interested in highlighting the general incompetence of those in power, rather than their innate malicious desires to be evil. It not only allows the show to be surprisingly funny, but it’s key to establishing its characters as realistic, genuine people who could walk our Earth. And that’s a huge part of the show’s success as a riveting series you can’t look away from.

That’s especially clear in Rick (Mike Judge), Reutical’s CEO. He seems more interested in playing a silly little Neopets-esque game on his phone and buying his little creature new outfits than he is in running a titanic pharmaceutical company. It’s a marvel the man can tie his own shoelaces, though it wouldn’t feel out of place if Frances had to do it for him. Common Side Effects has an acute understanding of how those in power wield it over those that don’t. In one scene, Frances asks Rick for a raise so she can help pay for her mother’s care home (she’s suffering from dementia and is non-verbal). Rick says there’s just no money to do it, and in another scene, he’s off on a private jet to Switzerland for work.

Like Scavengers Reign, Common Side Effects has a distinct visual style that takes a beat to get used to. Most of the 2D animation looks impressively realistic, with items like iPhones and coffee cups rendered in great detail. Yet the character designs are a bit like fun-house mirror reflections of people, with remarkably large heads and eyes and minuscule hands. Thankfully, this doesn’t distract. The unique character scale gives the show a unique look while fitting in seamlessly in this slightly heightened world where all isn’t as it seems.

The attention to character details is impressive, and even the most incompetent characters in the show are a genuine joy. In the first four episodes screened for critics, my favorites are DEA agents Harrington (Martha Kelly) and Copano (Joseph Lee Anderson), who seem more interested in jamming to classic tunes (including Harry Belafonte’s “Jump In The Line”) than acting out the wishes of a sinister medical corporation.

In an American animation landscape that’s largely known for big movements, loud noises, and chaotic slapstick, a show like Common Side Effects feels almost miraculous in its sense of calm. It’s far more interested in growing its compelling group of characters than it is in outrageous hijinks or massive explosions — though that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of excitement to be found in Common Side Effects. It’s an incredibly original show that deserves to be part of the larger conversation, and its weekly release schedule should go a long way in ensuring that people don’t forget about this wickedly funny, fascinating, intense, and arresting new series.

Common Side Effects airs on Adult Swim. Episodes will release on Max after airing.