Zero Day Mini-series Review

Zero Day (2025)

Watch Zero Day on Netflix
Created by: Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, Michael Schmidt
Starring: Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, Bill Camp, Dan Stevens, McKinley Belcher III, Angela Bassett
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
Former President George Mullen's comfortable retirement is upended when he's asked to lead an investigation into a devastating cyber attack.

Verdict
A convoluted conspiracy does just enough to keep you watching, but not much more. It's by the numbers and completely bland. While it's full of surprises, it's also very typical for a mystery like this. While I was intrigued through each episode, wondering how the pieces fit together, ultimately it's unsatisfying. The big reveal is generic. I didn't care about the characters' success or failures. All this show has is the conspiracy, and what character development it does attempt is perfunctory. How do you reconcile a show that kept you watching each episode but ends up being forgettable once the pieces fit together?
It depends.

Review
This begins with the how we got here trope, as former President George Mullen (Robert De Niro) frantically searches for something in his office before we start the story proper. I dislike this trope as it's often used to artificially add excitement. With this use, the frantic scene wasn't even a preview of anything substantial. It's pure manipulation to add false excitement.

A cyber attack freezes communications, networks, and transit. How could all these systems be affected at one time, and who did this? Mullen is initially asked to make an appearance and ease concerns before he's appointed to the Zero Day task force to find out who did it. He does get a chance to make a big speech and attack conspiracy theories while appealing to people's humanity. It's a bit too telegraphed. The first episode ends with a sequence that makes us questions Mullen's ability to function in this role. Is he suffering from a degenerative illness, is it related to the cyber attack, or is it something else entirely?

With the country being attacked and Mullen's episodes, I wondered if this was a Manchurian Candidate situation. It almost seems like certain words trigger a memory or action. There are a number of characters with varying interests in the event. Everyone initially suspects the Russians but Mullen's friend and fellow Zero Day member Roger (Jesse Plemons) gets information the attack was domestic, though we have to wonder if we can trust Roger and his contact. Roger is tangled up with some kind of wrong doing. Mullen's wife hires his former chief of staff Valerie (Connie Britton) to help him with this task force so he has someone to trust. It's implied and then overtly confirmed that Mullen and Valerie had a fling.

Robert De Niro, Connie Britton play George Mullen, Valerie

The root of this story is the question of how far will the government go in the name of safety and how many rights will get violated. This manifests the fear mongering in a devastating attack. We're introduced to a revered former President with a past that is slowly revealed. He goes from hero to vilified for leading this task force. The pubic is quick to jump to conclusions and latch on to conspiracies because they're quick answers and seem tangible. Talking heads like Evan Green (Dan Stevens) stoke the fire and present various ideas with no verification for personal gain. Mullen detains pundit Green after hallucinating a conversation with him on television along with some questionable evidence. Half way into the show, anyone could be a suspect.

The government had worked on a biological weapon, a focused weapon that affects the brain and appears degenerative. Mullen seems like he could be a victim, unless we get some kind of twist to that. If he has been targeted, why? Does someone want his task force to fail? That part of the story seems reactionary, inspired by the 2024 Presidential election with the two oldest candidates ever to run for the office of President.

I began to wonder about the end goal. What's the reason for this attack? The reason had to be destabilization, and while I understand wanting to keep the perpetrators secret this needs a driving force that's more than trying to discover who's behind the attack. Instead we're introduced to yet more people that could be involved. Mullen uncovers evidence that a tech mogul is behind everything. While they capture her, it's not satisfying as we know there has to be more to it. It's soon confirmed that the attack was domestic, but the perpetrators have gone to great lengths to conceal themselves.

In the final episode we discover who committed the attack and why. It was meant to galvanize the nation under a new leadership regime. Though really it's an excuse to grab power. This group had to consider the ramifications and the cost. It seems like quite the leap, and you have to wonder how no one involved could see the flaws in this plan. The question for the finale becomes upon learning the truth what will Mullen do. He's told the truth will tear the country apart but that he could spin it and portray a united government. Where does Mullen's responsibility lie?

With all the avenues this attack and resulting conspiracy could take,  what we get seems banal. I spent the entire season wondering about answers, and what I got wasn't satisfying. Everything that could have been, and this is what we get?