He tells conspiracy theorists they’re “not behaving like an American, nor a patriot” and asks incisive questions like “Do we want someone to blame or do we want the truth?” But his obsession with duty and fairness is tested by this investigation, as he’s also haunted by visions of his son, not to mention strains of the Sex Pistols’ “Who Killed Bambi?”.
Mullen is the sort of man who whispers things like “history’s watching” as he goes about his work, while his thinly drawn daughter is offered lines like “cocktails and canapes for the 1 per cent while the world burns down!”.
And Netflix has packed out Zero Day with a panoply (also, coincidentally, the name of a villainous tech company in the show) of mid-range talent: Gaby Hoffmann, Clark Gregg, Bill Camp, Joan Allen, Matthew Modine, Dan Stevens and more.
“Never f***ing better,” he replies, as though the events of the last few weeks haven’t happened (and, a couple of episodes later, Mullen asks a subordinate the same question: “Never better,” the man replies).
There are worse things in life than watching Robert De Niro’s face for six episodes, but he is let down by material that turns the tortured role of president into a caricature of American earnestness.
