The very fact that “political thriller” is a genre at all is a testament to our inherent distrust of government and power. The genre has often been used to reflect contemporaneous sociopolitical issues, from the Cold War (1962’s The Manchurian Candidate) to the Gulf War and other Middle East entanglements (2004’s The Manchurian Candidate). As a result, some of the most important cultural texts are political thrillers, because they distill the paranoid, uncertain feeling of the moment (be it All the President’s Men, Three Days of the Condor, Missing, or The Ghost Writer).
Netflix’s new limited series Zero Day, led by Robert De Niro, begins as one of the most baldly unsubtle political thrillers in some time, and it is desperate to be topical. After its horrible first episode, it’s easy to dismiss the series, but if you stick with it, Zero Day is much more nuanced and well-plotted than it initially seems.
An Attack on America Kicks Off ‘Zero Day’
3
/5
Release Date
2025 – 2024
Network
Netflix
Writers
Dee Johnson
Pros & Cons
- A topical series that gradually builds into something complicated and fascinating.
- Jesse Plemons is particularly phenomenal among a star-studded cast.
- The show goes into interesting directions, ultimately arriving at a very satisfying conclusion.
- A terrible first episode is misleading.
- The casting of De Niro is controversial, and he doesn’t contribute much to the character.
- Some supporting subplots and characters, especially the women’s, feel unresolved.
Zero Day is one of those few good TV shows which opens with an absolutely horrible first episode. Let’s give showrunner Eric Newman the benefit of the doubt and say the show is teasing us with a more comfortable but terribly executed Aaron Sorkin-like aesthetic, only for Zero Day to slyly become more like Capricorn One or Z. The series begins with Robert De Niro playing perhaps the only politician alive who is still beloved across bipartisan lines, George Mullen (the similarity to Muller is distracting and queasy). He’s embedded himself into a supremely habitual existence — morning meds, jog with dog, breakfast, attempts to work on his memoir, television, and time with his wife, Sheila (Joan Allen in a thankless role).
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Before we can get much character development, the titular event occurs. They call it ‘Zero Day,’ a time when literally all online communications and connections across the country are shut down. It supposedly lasts one minute, and yet trains and cars crash, planes fall from the sky, the stock market implodes, etc. Everything reboots after a minute, with cell phones and computer screens displaying the ominous message, “This will happen again.”
The world is obviously over-reliant upon technology and especially the World Wide Web, though it is a tad unrealistic to expect that a one-minute lapse of internet connectivity would lead to such a catastrophic event that a quasi-9/11 commission is set up and given extrajudicial rights and access. The new government commission makes the Patriot Act seem like a search warrant. A team will be given rights that extend beyond Congress and the Constitution in order to find out who caused the Zero Day attack (which Russia is immediately scapegoated for). In our hyperpartisan day and age, the current U.S. President (played by an underused Angela Bassett) needs someone who seems objective and trustworthy — enter De Niro’s Mullen.
Robert De Niro Is Either Saving the Country or Losing His Mind
Mullen is encouraged into the role by his longtime political confidante, Roger Carlson (a fantastic Jesse Plemons), who may need George to take the job more than the country needs him to. Roger has hit tough times, and he also has a shady past which is catching up to him. He used to date George’s daughter (played by Lizzy Caplan), who is now a progressive Congressional representative (named Alexandra, of course, in another nauseating instance of obviousness).
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Alexandra warns George against taking on the commission, and so does his wife, but Mullen is an American tethered to an old-school sense of duty. He agrees to head the commission, despite recent episodes that indicate dementia or some other issue with George’s mental faculties. This is a neat twist, making George simultaneously very important while also questioning his objective understanding of reality. There are some haunting sequences revolving around this plot and the possibility that George is becoming a kind of Washingtonian Jack Torrance.
It doesn’t help that George is eventually joined in his commission by an ex-lover who may have ruined his political prospects in the past. Connie Britton plays his old beau Valerie, and she’s incredible as usual, here balancing painful memories with a genuine devotion to country. Even George’s wife knows that nobody works better with him than Valerie, and she’s willing to let bygones be bygones so long as Valerie can help George and keep him safe. Meanwhile, the U.S. President is on a deadline, and an increasingly rebellious faction of politicians led by Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine) are trying to eliminate the commission.
A Complicated Netflix Series with Great Actors
Whew. That’s a lot, isn’t it? This is the usual issue with political thrillers, which seem to always end up having two more actual plots than you think they do. Zero Day may have a handful more than that. A variety of characters and subplots emerge throughout which we haven’t even touched on here, from an Alex Jones-style conspiracy theorist in the media to a murderous member of the Russian embassy and a group of hipster hackers. We won’t even get into Roger’s backstory (but suffice it to say, Jesse Plemons is astounding in the role, giving the most soulful performance of the show).
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As such, the many moving players and shifting subplots (and MacGuffins) may confuse or annoy some viewers, but things actually do solidify into a somewhat coherent narrative that leads to a satisfying conclusion. Sure, there are some plot holes, red herrings, ridiculous technological devices, unresolved issues, and other problems along the way, but the main thrust of the plot and the characters’ stories lead to an appropriate and fulfilling ending that will have you thinking.
Zero Day is downright brimming with great talent, and everyone does a pretty good job (despite the women, in particular, seeming underutilized). The aforementioned Plemons is phenomenal, and Clark Gregg reaches the apotheosis of his pr*ck performances, playing the smuggest character he’s ever attempted. Modine is striking in his few appearances, combining gravitas with that very particular kind of indignation which only politicians can manifest. Britton, Stevens, and especially Caplan all try their best, but are given such unsubtle and awkward dialogue that it’s often hard for them to rise above it. Nonetheless, Caplan’s scenes with Plemons are wonderful.
Casting Robert De Niro in a Political Thriller
It’s painful to write, but Robert De Niro seems a bit out of his depth here, especially as the lead of a series. The man who made mental illness seem so disturbingly convincing in Taxi Driver, and who nailed the wit of political cynicism in Wag the Dog, just doesn’t fit in Zero Day. It’s a difficult role, one that’s supposed to be very patriotic but without partisanship; one that needs to convey mental instability and self-doubt while also leaning into the terrifying power of a man outside the law. He must feel like a beloved U.S. President, a brilliant thinker, and someone dealing with dementia or some other mental crisis. De Niro just doesn’t rise to that level.
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And while this shouldn’t have anything to do with the reception of Zero Day, it’s impossible to dismiss the reality of De Niro being such an outspoken political figure in the world today. The fact that he is leading a political thriller (and as the former President, mind you) immediately leads millions of voters on “the other side” to create stark presuppositions about Zero Day. De Niro has become downright despised by conservatives, especially of the MAGA variety. To cast him as a seemingly bipartisan, unbiased voice of truth is, unfortunately, absurd given recent events.
This is not to say that Zero Day is partisan in any way. The Netflix series leads to a damning indictment of politics and power without being a contrived diatribe against any one political ideology. People on all sides of the spectrum can enjoy this show, but De Niro’s casting almost guarantees that a significant portion of society won’t even try. That’s a shame. Can you even make a political series or film these days which doesn’t have these problems? You’d have to cast someone who has never said anything publicly. Is it possible? Would it even be good? Regardless, these are the times we’re living in.
Adding Up the Meaning of ‘Zero Day’
After a horrendous first episode, Zero Day reveals itself to be a neat, clever little thriller that reflects the current political malaise in interesting ways. The ending is admirable and uncompromising, as is the fate of some characters. The dialogue improves along the way as well, and even De Niro seems to come alive in the final episode (whether as a result of the show’s plot dynamics or not).
There is a tremendously sad and stifled feeling one gets, however, while watching Zero Day. I kept imagining Republicans watching it and thinking, “This excoriates those damn liberals,” while I imagined Democrats seeing it and musing, “Yep, conservatives are a bunch of dull tools.” Like Alex Garland’s Civil War, perhaps a lack of concrete perspective means that Zero Day is destined to be interpreted by bad actors on either side, or will become so vague that it has no cultural meaning.
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The scariest thing I experienced while watching Zero Day, though, was a feeling that none of this matters. I imagined that in the world of the show, a week after it ends, another constitutional crisis would emerge. A week after that, an international threat. A week after that, talks of American troops on the ground in the Middle East or elsewhere. A month after the events of Zero Day, the people in that world would completely forget about their terrorist attack, because more atrocities and confusion were bombarding them every hour of the day.
I kept thinking about that while I watched Zero Day, and when it was over, I checked the news. America is apparently aligning with Russia with disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty and land, just as we are apparently ethnically cleansing nearly two million Palestinians in order to turn Gaza into a fancy line of resorts. Zero Day is supposed to be a political thriller, but in terms of what’s actually happening in the world, it’s amateur hour. Things are going to get much worse.
Zero Day is now streaming on Netflix. You can watch it through the link below:
You can view the original article HERE.
