For those of you who are looking for your next binge-worthy series, I have a suggestion. It’s a show about a scientist, a coveted illegal drug with an iconic baby-blue hue and the lengths people ranging from the powerful to the desperate will go to obtain it, learn how to make it and prevent it from being distributed to the public. Along with heartbreaking betrayals and deception and deeper themes of terminal illness and poverty, it has a protagonist being hunted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
I’m talking, of course, about the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning crime drama “Breaking Bad.”
Just kidding. I’m actually talking about “Common Side Effects,” Adult Swim’s newest animated psychedelic dramedy, which recently wrapped up its ten-episode first season.
Co-created by veteran animators Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely, “Common Side Effects” follows childhood friends Marshall Cuso and Frances Applewhite as they attempt to unleash the power of a miracle-cure psychedelic mushroom with the ability to cure every medical issue known to humanity, including death.
Cuso is a mycologist whose discovery of the fabled “blue mushroom” in Peru leads to him being targeted by the DEA and a morally bankrupt board member of the pharmaceutical corporation Reutical who Cuso despises.
The blue mushroom, which is capable of curing everything from cancer to advanced Alzheimer’s, would effectively render the global medical industry obsolete if allowed to interact with the pharmaceutical marketplace.
Cuso’s estranged friend and high school lab partner Frances Applewhite reconnects with Cuso during the series’ pilot, with Applewhite concealing the fact that she works as an assistant to Reutical’s Chief Executive Officer Rick Kruger (played by veteran voice actor Mike Judge).
Applewhite, while facing pressure from Kruger to help save the company, seeks to bring the mushroom to the marketplace, unbeknownst to Cuso, who wants to distribute it outside the profit-driven healthcare system.
The end result is a dramatic thriller that includes cat-and-mouse games between Cuso and an unexpectedly adorable team of DEA agents turned best friends, backstabbing colleagues and an unholy alliance between corporate power and corruptible government officials.
The first season takes this premise and establishes a clear and obvious thematic stance against the “profits over people” framework of the healthcare industry, inheriting the sympathy of an era that’s as skeptical of pharmaceutical companies as it is of a healthcare approach cemented in capitalism.
The last few episodes of the first season left Bennett and Hely with plenty of room to develop the direction of the story, leaving us with a promising preview of what will hopefully be a refreshing addition to Adult Swim’s animated treasure chest.
Bennett’s unique art style distinguishes “Common Side Effects” from the waterfall of “Rick and Morty” stylistic clones that have been eroding the landscape of adult animation for a number of years. The characters are refreshing to look at and blend realism with caricature.
As might be expected with a show centered on psychedelic mushrooms, hallucinogenic tripping scenes are a hallmark of the first season. These scenes serve a greater purpose beyond storytelling and act as a proof of concept for the show’s visual potential.
My only critique regards certain emotionally charged scenes. For a show that does so well with character design, there are moments when characters could stand to be drawn with more emotion, particularly when the voice actors seemed to understand the assignment.
This is a bit of a nitpick, but one worthy of a show displaying so much potential right out of the gate.
That being said, Adult Swim confirmed a renewed prescription for a second season, and I’ll be patiently awaiting my next dose.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
