‘Common Side Effects’
‘Shrooms are having a moment. While they’re admittedly not quite as zeitgeisty as ketamine (you can thank/blame Elon for that), ingesting psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) has gone from fringe burnout behavior to popular Silicon Valley techno-utopian fad to an increasingly relevant component of suburban life (if you haven’t encountered a microdosing mom, you clearly don’t get out much) over the course of the last decade. Common Side Effects, a new Adult Swim series airing on Max, has mushrooms on its mind; specifically, a psychoactive strain of mushroom that can only be grown in soil polluted by industrial sludge and turtle dung … but can cure every ailment known to man (gunshot wounds, Alzheimer’s, you name it). My colleague Radhamely de Leon recommended C.S.E. in this space just last month, but I’m here to second her rave and implore you to sample the series. This dizzying blend of Big Pharma conspiracy thriller and corporate critique comedy — executive produced by the likes of Mike Judge and Greg Daniels — is one of the best new shows of 2025.