Common Side Effects

Like its protagonist, an unkempt guy who goes around wearing a bucket hat and an unbuttoned shirt over his bare chest, Common Side Effects is a lot smarter and deeper than it might seem on the surface. At first glance it’s a paranoid thriller about a guy on the run after a scientific breakthrough puts him on the radar of the wrong people. On the other, it questions the rotten systems we’re forced to live under in the U.S., and the powerful figures behind the scenes hell bent on keeping those systems in place at any cost. It’s not even as clean cut as a story of good versus evil, as there are complicated motivations, questionable ethics, bad judgement, and egregious mistakes on all sides. It’s a show that sticks with you and gives you plenty to mull over, long after you’ve finished watching.

This is a series that could have been made in any medium. It deals with big themes and high-minded concepts, but nothing so fantastic that it wouldn’t be just as impactful if it were a live-action series, a movie, or even a book. The world of Common Side Effects is a relatively grounded one, especially when compared to something like Scavenger’s Reign (though that’s a very wide gap), so why choose animation? For one thing, it’s about perception and intended audience. The show’s anti-establishment message is more likely to be received by an audience open to thinking outside the genre box. Aesthetics have to play a part in it too. There are moments when the show goes fully surreal, depicting the hallucinogenic effects of the mushroom as a visit to a fantastic dreamscape populated by odd little white guys, who eventually start appearing in the real world to those who have taken it. What that means for them isn’t clear as of the end of the first season, but there are hints (including the show’s title itself) that there may be downsides to the Blue Angel’s magical healing properties.

With the exception of Judge, there aren’t any instantly recognizable voices in the main cast, so it’s easy to appreciate their performances without any distraction. The show is very good at getting the viewer invested in the assorted cast of characters and their relationships. The relationships especially are the key to the show’s winning formula—Marshall and Frances, Frances and Rick, DEA agents Copano and Harrington, Marshall and his estranged half brother Zane, even Marshall and his pet tortoise Socrates. They’re all very different and interesting to explore.

Before the final episode had even aired, Adult Swim picked the show up for a second season. And It’s a good thing, considering the finale’s open ending. It promises to take us to wilder places in the future and, after 10 solid episodes, we’re willing to go along with these creators, wherever they want to go next.