Robert De Niro in ‘Zero Day’

Matt’s Rating:

A chilling throwback to cautionary Cold War-era fables like Fail Safe and Seven Days in May, the timely and taut six-part political conspiracy thriller Zero Day (from Narcos showrunner Eric Newman and NBC News alum Noah Oppenheim) juggles enough worst-case scenarios to turn the viewer into a basket case.

In a rare TV role, Robert De Niro projects the necessary authority and gravitas to try to calm a frantic and fractured nation as former president George Mullen, a one-term leader who stepped down in the wake of a family tragedy. He’s called out of retirement by the current president (the formidable Angela Bassett) to head a commission to root out the unknown terrorists who paralyzed the U.S. with a sudden and devastating, though mercifully brief, cyberattack that hijacked American infrastructure and transportation, resulting in thousands of casualties.

Netflix

Causing alarm with the widespread warning, “This will happen again,” the “Zero Day” event fuels financial panic and mob mayhem amid waves of disinformation (so what else is new). After some persuasion, Mullen takes the reins of the new commission, pleading, “If we keep shouting at each other like this, what are we going to accomplish?” Soon enough, outspoken critics emerge, including Matthew Modine as the opposition’s Speaker of the House, who’s not above weaponizing the crisis for political gain, Dan Stevens as an opportunistic fringe-media blowhard, and Gaby Hoffmann as a disruptive tech mogul. They despair that Team Mullen’s unregulated borderline-torture tactics may be a cure worse than the disease.

They’re not entirely wrong, and even those who know Mullen best — including his wife (Joan Allen), an appellate court candidate, his estranged congresswoman daughter (Lizzy Caplan), his loyal right-hand man (Jesse Plemons), and former chief of staff (Connie Britton) — begin to have good reason to question his emotional and mental stability. Or are they being played as well?

As the scope of the conspiracy comes into focus, Mullen delivers a challenge that resonates uncannily in today’s real world: “Destroying democracy is not the way to save it.” Or, as Zero Day asks, if the lights go out again, will we be left in darkness?

Zero Day, Limited Series Premiere (six episodes), Thursday, February 20, Netflix