Synopsis: Zero Day is a series that mixes politics, suspense and conspiracy theories in a scenario of global crisis. The plot explores the chaos that appears when a 9/11-style terrorist attack threatens global security. At the center of the story is a former president of the United States (Robert De Niro), tasked with leading a federal investigation while facing the first signs of cognitive decline - a secret that could compromise not only his mission, but the future of the country. Amid uncontrollable forces that seem to conspire against the world order, Zero Day questions to what extent conspiracy theories are the fruit of collective imagination or deliberate strategies of manipulation.
The series has six episodes, Day Zero, which is related to the political theme that explores several of the vulnerabilities that our societies are exposed to. Although the event at the center of the plot is a major cyberattack, the story also exposes legal, institutional and human weaknesses in a narrative full of suspense. Going beyond entertainment, the miniseries tries to alert to the importance of maintaining the rule of law and democratic order.
The plot is set in the area of cybersecurity. A zero-day vulnerability is a weakness in a software system that is known to the community and for which there is still no fix or way to mitigate the problem. The term refers to the fact that those responsible for the software have “zero days” to provide a solution. In other words, the vulnerability needs to be fixed as quickly as possible.
In the series, many software vulnerabilities like this are exploited during a massive cyberattack in the US. Lasting just one minute, the massive power and communications blackout leaves more than three thousand dead across the country. In that short space of time, planes crashed, trains derailed, and life support systems were shut down. The plot seems far-fetched, but scenarios like this have been explored in several documentaries.
But this is just the first type of vulnerability shown in the series. To find the culprits and reassure the population, President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) creates an investigation commission with powers that do not need to respect the rule of law and the country's constitution. It is to prevent such an instrument from falling into the hands of people with political ambitions that former President George Mullen (Robert De Niro) agrees to lead the investigation.
However, despite his good intentions, the pressure placed on former President George Mullen and some unexplained neurological problems lead him to make increasingly paranoid and arbitrary decisions. In this sense, Day Zero reminds us that unlimited power amplifies and amplifies any defects or limitations that its holders have, maximizing its negative effects on the lives of a large number of people.
Mullen's situation is just one of the ways the miniseries highlights the relevance of human frailties in the world of politics. At a certain point, several characters begin to suspect that Mullen is being targeted by a neurological weapon, which is affecting both his concentration and his judgment.
The public's own reaction is part of the human factors addressed in Day Zero. People want quick, definitive answers about the attack, and are frustrated when the government fails to provide them. Some people then turn to conspiracy theories led by influencer Evan Green (Dan Stevens), who learns the hard way the true difference between the rule of law and a state of emergency.
Spoiler: In the end, the plot reveals that the attack was orchestrated by individuals representing a wide range of interests, including international adversaries, powerful members of the US private sector and a part of the country's political class. The main motivation given by some of the leaders is not strange to those who remember the motivation of the great villain of Watchmen.
The idea would be to bring people together around a common threat, so that people would put aside their differences and work together. This is something that could perhaps be called “centrist extremism.” Furthermore, the unconstitutional powers of the commission of inquiry would be used to “fix” the country and “do what needs to be done.” Day Zero tries to do the same thing that one of the villains says is his goal: to draw people's attention to the country's real problems, instead of wasting time on fights and polarizations that are far from the main concerns of humanity as a whole. Therefore, the series does this without killing thousands of people and without undermining the rule of law.
View replies 0
View replies 0