11. Common Side Effects Season 1

Common Side Effects is an animated series follows two former lab partners, Marshall Cuso (Dave King) and Frances Applewhite (Emily Pendergast), who discover a mushroom that can cure all diseases, so you can imagine the government cover-ups and Big Pharma conspiracies that follow. In one scene, the show delves into medical suppression with a surreal “mushroom trip” in which Hildy (Sue Rose) consumes the blue angel mushroom to test its healing powers, only to have a vivid and disturbing vision of her head rapidly aging before exploding into bacteria repeatedly, symbolizing the mushroom’s overwhelming power to reverse death and decay. Through graphic surrealism like this, Common Side Effects unflinchingly explores the tension between the potential benefits of alternative medicine and the profit-centric healthcare. No show on TV in 2025 has been as daring with its messaging or delivery than Common Side Effects