I Watch a Lot of Sci-Fi, and This Mind-Altering Adult Swim Show Is One of the Year's Best

Before I get into it, I must come clean: I am not a big fan of present-day animation. Sure, I can get down with some anime classics and will always give experimental stuff like Love, Death + Robots a shot. But there's this unfortunate trend of cookie-cutter projects getting the green light with the goal of replicating the success of animated hits like Rick and Morty instead of giving risky, original, cutting-edge programs a chance to find an audience. All this said, Adult Swim's conspiracy thriller Common Side Effects floated under my radar when it premiered on Max this year. I was aware of its existence but paid the show no mind. With names like Beavis & Butthead's Mike Judge and The Office's Greg Daniels attached as executive producers, you'd think I'd have perked up. Well, I didn't. My watch-list as a TV critic is always crowded, and, honestly, my patience for trying shows like this is quite slim. Yet, one of my goals for 2025 is to fight the persistent urge to say no. So I eventu ... Read full article.