‘Zero Day’ series review: All-star cast cannot pull this political thriller from morass

Despite a dazzling Jesse Plemons and Dan Stevens chewing the scenery with twinkly eyed sincerity, as well the presence of heavy hitters including Robert De Niro and Angela Bassett, and a fairly scary what-if scenario, the mini-series fails to engage

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.

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.