Does Netflix's 'Zero Day' Ever Get Any Better? [Spoilers]

If you’re like me, you watched the first episode of the new Netflix political thriller Zero Day and thought, “Huh. That was really bad. But it’s a great cast. Surely, Zero Day gets better, right?”

It does not! If anything, it gets even worse, which is remarkable, given how extraordinarily awful the first episode is.

The cast of Zero Day is stacked: Robert De Niro, Connie Britton, Angela Bassett, Joan Allen, Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Modine, Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, and Dan Stevens. A cast like that should be a slam dunk, right? One would think. But the six-episode series is trash, and not even the fun kind. It’s like a bad James Patterson novel on quaaludes and battery acid.

Here’s what I think happened: The showrunner, Eric Newman (Narcos), is a solid in-house choice. But one of the story’s co-developers is Michael Schmidt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning national security journalist for the New York Times. My guess is that they wanted to craft a series that reflected real-world possibilities given the current state of technology and politics in America. That was probably enough to convince De Niro to sign on, and once he did—- his first-ever television role — the others likely followed.

The problem, besides how boring and inert the series is, is that real-world politics have already surpassed the threats posed by Zero Day. The show takes place after an unknown entity hacks the grid and shuts off power nationwide for one minute. Planes crash, people die, and widespread chaos ensues.

Enter George Mullen (De Niro), a popular one-term president who declined to run again after his son’s death. The current president, Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett), creates a commission to investigate the Zero Day attacks, granting it unprecedented police powers. It’s basically post-9/11 America on steroids in a hyper-polarized political climate. Mitchell believes Mullen can wield these powers without going full fascist. He has his right-hand man, political operative Roger Carlson (Plemons), and his chief of staff, Valerie Whitesell (Connie Britton), to assist him.

But there are complications. His daughter Alex (Lizzy Caplan), an AOC-like figure, is wary of giving anyone—especially her father—too much power. There’s also radical political commentator Evan Green (Dan Stevens), stirring dissent on his podcast. Meanwhile, Mullen suffers from unexplained mental episodes.

The show’s politics are muddled, contradictory, and just plain bad. It never clarifies its message. Mullen does abuse his police powers—even torturing the radical podcaster—but he’s also framed as the show’s hero because he ultimately identifies the culprits behind the Zero Day attacks. Ironically, his success has little to do with his abusive interrogation tactics.

I’m going to spoil it here to drive home how terrible the politics are, so bail now if you’re still somehow interested in watching an awful, unredeemable show: The Zero Day attacks were an inside job orchestrated by Speaker of the House Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine), Mullen’s daughter Alex, finance billionaire Robert Lyndon (Clark Gregg), and tech billionaire Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann).

Why? Good question. According to them, it was to unite the country. With Americans divided and Congress deadlocked, they decided the best way to bring people together was through a cyberattack that would push the government into action. The plan was ridiculous from the start, but the show treats it with a baffling level of sincerity. The solution to Congressional gridlock is … plane crashes!?!?

Mullen doesn’t learn about Alex’s involvement until the final episode. This revelation forces Mullen to decide whether to expose the truth and lose his daughter or cover it up to “protect” the country. At first, he chooses the latter, delivering a sanitized version of events to Congress. But a vision of his dead son spurs a change of heart (Mullen has a lot of tiresome “visions”), and he ditches the teleprompter to read Alex’s confession, naming all the conspirators. Chaos erupts. Mullen stands by his decision despite what it costs him.

The show tries to frame this as a noble act, but the messaging is completely incoherent. What, exactly, is the takeaway here? Truth matters, even if it destroys the country? Political violence is bad unless it’s for the right reasons? Abusing police powers is awful unless the outcome is good?

And beyond the politics, it’s just not good TV. It’s convoluted, messy, and profoundly boring — a trudge of epic proportions. Just intolerably bad. Poorly written. Terribly plotted. Even the acting suffers, which is all the more painful given the skilled director behind the camera, Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, Mad Men).

It’s truly an all-around flop—devoid of both entertainment and political value. And no, it never gets better.