‘Zero Day’ series review: All-star cast led by Robert De Niro cannot pull this political thriller from morass

Robert De Niro as George Mullen in ‘Zero Day’
| Photo Credit: Jojo Whilden

Is it a high-tech neurological weapon or an old man’s mind giving way under stress to grief and loss? That is one of the questions that run through Zero Day, the mini-series created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim and Michael Schmidt.

Former President, George Mullen (Robert De Niro), is going about his version of Groundhog Day in his pretty, country house outside New York. Switching off his alarm, going for his run and swim and then sitting down to breakfast served by his aide while reading Presidential Daily Briefing — which is not realistic as he is not the serving president, but then reality seems to be relative, just like truth and freedom and all those abstract things. He is also referred to as Mr. President. We learn that he resigned following a personal tragedy.

A one-minute cyber attack brings the United States to a crippling halt, killing over 3,000 people (maybe the Stone Age is not all that bad). Every phone in the United States shows the same chilling message: “This will happen again.” The incumbent President, Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett), appoints Mullen to head the Zero Day Commission to find out who or what is behind the attack and how to protect against it.

Eden Lee as Agent Angela Kim, Mozhan Navabi as Melissa Kornblau, Robert De Niro as George Mullen, Connie Britton as Valerie Whitesell, Jay Klaitz as Tim Pennington and Ignacio Diaz-Silverio as Cesar Rocha in ’Zero Day’
| Photo Credit:
Jojo Whilden

Mullen’s wife, Sheila (Joan Allen), a judge nominated for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, is not very happy with Mullen’s appointment but is supportive nevertheless. Mullen asks the very competent, if morally ambiguous Roger Carlson (Jesse Plemons) to be his body man (personal aide). Mullen’s daughter, Alex (Lizzy Caplan), is a Congresswoman but estranged from him.

The Speaker, Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine), has his own agenda. Sheila pushes for Mullen’s former Chief of Staff, Valerie Whitesell (Connie Britton), to serve the Zero Day Commission in the same capacity much to Alex’s horror — there is clearly some bad blood considering the nasty saas-bahu looks the women give each other.

The Zero Day investigation led by Assistant United States Attorney, Carl Otieno (McKinley Belcher III), seems to hit a dead end at every turn from the Russian assassins and technocrats such as Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann) to Wall Street slime, Robert Lyndon (Clark Gregg) and haranguing political commentator Evan Green (Dan Stevens).

Amidst all this political manoeuvring, Mullen begins to hear things, particularly the song ‘Who Killed Bambi’ by the British punk rock band Sex Pistols. The song holds significance for Mullen, and he finds a notebook with the question on it repeatedly, though he does not remember writing it. He feels disorientated and suspicious of the people around him. He sees people — including Anna Sindler (Hannah Gross), who was helping him write his autobiography — when they are clearly not there. There is a doubt if his mind is playing tricks or if he is the victim of a conspiracy as mentioned at the beginning of the review. And till the end of the series, neither the viewer nor Mullen and company know what is going on.

Jesse Plemons as Roger Carlson and Robert De Niro in ‘Zero Day’
| Photo Credit:
Jojo Whilden

The question, unfortunately, will not be fodder for many dining room conversations because despite being only six episodes, there is so much going on — all leading to dead ends plot-wise — that you are simply exhausted. De Niro is in fine shape as the president but his expression brings to mind that other Bob’s (Dylan) look while recording ‘We Are the World’. One can almost hear him sing, ‘There must be some way out of here…’

Plemons proves yet again what a shapeshifter he is, smoothly taking on the skin of the good man forced to do wrong things for the right reasons, while Stevens is all twinkly-eyed and mischievous as the horrid doomsday prophet. De Niro’s first lead appearance on the small screen deserved a tighter treatment, rather than a kitchen sink full of disparate elements jangling to that earworm, ‘Who Killed Bambi?’

Zero Day is currently streaming on Netflix