C

Even a great Jesse Plemons can’t save Zero Day

The Robert De Niro-led political thriller is very timely (and equally messy).

By Tim Lowery  |  February 20, 2025 | 10:00am
Photo: Netflix
TV Reviews Zero Day
Even a great Jesse Plemons can’t save Zero Day
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

[Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers.]

There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Zero Day: The prospect of watching one of the greatest actors of any generation, Robert De Niro, bounce off one of the best of his, Jesse Plemons (only this time with the longer and more frequent stretches that come with a TV show), is certainly a biggie—and so is the idea of seeing the 81 year old leading a series at all, although he was in 2023 Argentinian drama Nada. The rest of the cast, too, feels ridiculously stacked, even by today’s standards, with some very reliable TV vets (Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Bill Camp, and Gaby Hoffmann, among others), not to mention Angela Bassett and Matthew Modine (as the President and Speaker Of The House, no less). Even small roles here might have you doing a double take and wondering, “Oh, shit—is that Hannah Gross from Mindhunter?” as the show’s political chess pieces fall into place. And admittedly, for as scattershot as its programming often is, Netflix has been on a bit of a tear lately, with a sleek, smart thriller (something Zero Day is very much molded to be), a timely sendoff, a very funny special, and a heartfelt family drama all having hit the streamer over the past two months or so. 

Unfortunately, beyond the casting excitement (and a standout performance by Plemons) and despite all of the high, of-the-moment political stakes and cliffhanger twists, Zero Day feels more like a slog than a gripping thriller that reflects these crazy times. A show that plows through plot points and characters and deploys table-turning moments at such a rapid clip should at least keep you guessing in an entertaining, half-focused, “let’s watch one more to see who the real baddie is” sort of way. But Zero Day comes off as not only messy—a quality that, honestly, can be forgiven in small doses with this genre, as it kind of comes with the territory—but almost interminable. By the final hour—and there are only six of them, mind you—caring about the endgame here feels like a chore.

The show, which was created by Narcos showrunner Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and New York Times writer Michael Schmidt and directed by Homeland’s Lesli Linka Glatter, centers on that titular day, when a cyberattack is unleashed on America, sending an ominous “THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN” message to everyone’s cellphone—no matter their service provider or hardware—and shutting down train lines, traffic lights, and the like. The chaos results in more than 3,000 deaths, and after a rousing (and overwritten) speech, former President George Mullen (De Niro) is convinced by the current one (Bassett) to lead a commission to figure out who did this by any means necessary.

This Patriot Act-esque “by any means necessary” business puts the onetime—and one-term—POTUS at odds with his anti-fascist congressperson daughter, Alexandra (Caplan), who just so happens to be put in charge of the oversight committee of her own father’s commission, as well as a popular right-wing media personality (played by Dan Stevens, who, with his glasses, flannel shirt, and Tucker Carlson-like delivery and smugness, makes his character quite punchable). There’s also Mullen’s shifty-seeming current Chief Of Staff, Roger (Plemons), who is pitted against his former one, Valerie (Britton), who also had an affair with the erstwhile Leader Of The Free World when he was in office. Oh, also, Roger and Alexandra used to date—or are still (or something). 

This show is dead-set on throwing us these private-life curveballs, as if Mullen & co. racing against the clock to save the country from a catastrophic attack—especially as bank runs and lootings spread like wildfire—isn’t enough of a hook for viewers. But rather than amping up the drama, suspense, or emotional stakes, doing this makes Zero Day feel awfully coincidental and, at worst, eye-roll-inducing. (That said, this all-in-the-family vibe does afford a few pleasures, like watching the characters of Friday Night Lights greats Britton and Plemons snipe at each other.) There is also an arc about how Mullen may be losing his marbles and a mystery about his journals, in which the ex-Pres has scribbled down “Who killed Bambi?” over and over again a la MacGruber. 

For his part, Plemons adds a whole lot of life, spark, and personality to his role, and he’s quickly becoming one of those actors who elevates anything he’s in. But there are so many groan-worthy lines here (“The American people need to know the truth, nothing but the truth,” say, or “Want to protect your conscience or this country?”) and far-fetched scenarios (like an angry mob listening to an impromptu speech and then cheering in unison or a former POTUS overseeing the torture of a prisoner in front of that prisoner) that it’s hard to take any of the insights this show has about our current political climate all that seriously. 

Zero Day premieres February 20 on Netflix  

 
Join the discussion...