Adult Swim’s newest animated series, Common Side Effects, has quickly become one of the network’s most talked-about shows, blending absurdist humor with scathing social commentary on healthcare and corporate corruption. Created by Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely, the series follows Marshall Cuso (voiced by Dave King) and Frances Applewhite (voiced by Emily Pendergast), two former high school friends who discover the Blue Angel Mushroom – a miraculous fungus capable of healing any illness or injury. Their discovery puts them in the crosshairs of pharmaceutical giant Reutical, whose executives will stop at nothing to suppress knowledge of the mushroom’s existence, lest they go out of business.
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What makes Common Side Effects particularly compelling beyond its acid take on Big Pharma is how it keeps viewers invested in its central mysteries. One of these mysteries is the origin of the Blue Angel Mushroom, which Episode 5, “Star-Tel-Lite,” finally begins to unravel in the most unexpected and disgusting way.
WARNING: Spoilers below for Common Side Effects Season 1, Episode 5
Since reconnecting with Frances in the series premiere, Marshall has been on the run from multiple threats: assassins hired by Reutical board member Jonas Backstein (voiced by Danny Huston), DEA agents Copano (voiced by Joseph Lee Anderson) and Harrington (voiced by Martha Kelly), and even his former mentor, mycologist Hildy (voiced by Sue Rose). Yet, MArshall’s vision for a fair distribution of Blue Angel Mushrooms still has led him to study the fungus and learn more about how to grow more of it.
In Episode 3, titled “Hildy,” Marshall learns the Blue Angel evolved naturally as an adaptive response to chemical pollution from Reutical’s pharmaceutical waste. This revelation gives Marshall the idea to purchase land near a chemical waste site in Episode 4, “Dumpsite,” hoping to recreate the conditions that produced the Blue Angel in the first place. Despite his best efforts, Marshall’s experiments fail repeatedly, and he quickly burns through his limited supply of Blue Angel specimens without successfully propagating more.
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In Episode 5, Marshall finds himself in possession of just one final Blue Angel Mushroom, representing his last chance to unlock the secret of its reproduction. In a moment of desperate inspiration, Frances suggests they abandon the scientific approach and try something more intuitive – letting nature take its course. She theorizes that since Marshall originally found his pet tortoise Socrates near the Blue Angel’s native habitat in Peru, the animal might instinctively recognize the ideal growing conditions. With nothing left to lose, Marshall and Frances take Socrates to a nearby wooded area, watching as the tortoise slowly ambles through the forest floor. When Socrates finally stops at a particular spot, they take it as a sign and carefully plant fragments of their last mushroom in the soil, hoping its spores will take root.
Dejected by their dwindling options, the pair turn to leave. Then, the camera lingers behind to reveal what they miss: Socrates defecating directly onto the mushroom fragments. The following morning, Marshall and Frances find new Blue Angel Mushooroms sprouting in the woods, finally revealing the disgusting missing ingredient in the mushroom’s life cycle. It requires tortoise feces as a catalyst for growth.
The Blue Angel Mushroom Growth in Common Side Effects Leads to Some Uncomfortable Ethical Questions
Marshall’s discovery of how to cultivate more Blue Angel Mushrooms (though he remains unaware of Socrates’ critical contribution) doesn’t solve his problems. Instead, it creates new, more complex ones. Throughout the series, Marshall has maintained a clear, idealistic vision: to provide free healthcare to everyone on the planet, dismantling Big Pharma’s stranglehold on medical treatments and ensuring nobody faces financial ruin due to illness. However, the revelation about the Blue Angel’s growth requirements introduces a significant limitation to his plan. Even with successful propagation, the mushroom’s dependency on tortoise excrement creates an inherent supply constraint.
This scarcity inevitably leads to difficult ethical questions about distribution, as Marshall himself anxiously contemplates in a late-night conversation with Frances in Episode 5. Given the limited supply of Blue Angel, who should receive treatment first? Should priority be given to the elderly, who have immediate life-threatening conditions but fewer years ahead of them? Or should children and young adults with their whole lives ahead of them receive treatment first?
Beyond age considerations, more politically charged questions emerge. Should the limited supply of Blue Angel be distributed to people in need of medication regardless of their beliefs about resource sharing? If Marshall believes healthcare should be a universal right rather than a commodity, does that belief extend to those who actively work against such systems? These questions speak to a fundamental tension within the show’s premise about universal access to healthcare when resources are limited.
Common Side Effects has masterfully set up these ethical dilemmas as the narrative stakes continue to rise. After episode 5, it’s clear the series has only begun to scratch the surface of the moral conundrums raised by the existence of the Blue Angel. The miracle cure’s dependency on such an unusual and limited resource – Peruvian tortoise excrement – further complicates Marshall’s noble mission. Sooner or later, he will have to choose who lives and who dies, challenging his deep-seated beliefs healthcare shouldn’t be a commodity but a fundamental right.
New episodes of Common Side Effects premiere every Sunday on Adult Swim.
How did you enjoy Episode 5? Do you think Marshall will be able to produce Blue Angel Mushrooms on a large scale? Join the discussion in the comments!
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Image courtesy of Marvel Studios
