Zero Day: Thrilling Enough, But Not That Much Like Today

I binged the six-episode Zero Day that went up on Netflix.  Herewith my thoughts, with no major spoilers to warn you about [except in the very last paragraph].

First and foremost, the acting was outstanding.  I mean, with Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, and Connie Britton in major roles -- not to mention Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett with slightly less screen -- how can you go wrong.   From the point of view of the acting, every scene was a real pleasure to watch.

As to the story ... well, I've heard this limited series touted, in more than one place, as strikingly similar to what we've been seeing and hearing on our cable news stations, laptops, and social media these days.  Of course, any plot about a terrorist attack that kills lots of people, and the government veering towards fascist tactics to find the culprits, and stop this from happening again, resembles our times.  But actually, it resembles what George W. Bush and the Congress did with the Patriot Act after September 11 (mentioned in Zero Day) far more than it resembles today.  And that's because our current swerve towards fascism has nothing to do with a terrorist attack.  It stems from the voters of the United States electing to office a President whose every other pronouncement is out of Joseph  Goebbels's handbook.   So yes, although high-tech digital prowess and at least one billionaire are part of the action in Zero Day, the heart of the story is something else.

And that heart, which we've also seen in other movies and TV series on various screens, is a pretty good narrative, with affairs, difficult family relationships, politics reminiscent of what Jack Bauer had to deal with in 24 and prevalent in House of Cards, all done up nicely with a few real newscasters, a house on the Hudson, and of course the nation's capital.   So, if you're looking for a thriller brought to you by flat-out great acting and a decent-enough storyline, I'd recommend Zero Day.  But don't expect anything searingly relevant to what's actually going on today.  De Niro's character is named Mullen, and he gives a report to Congress in the last scene.  A nod to Mueller and the report he gave to Congress in Trump's first administration, right?  But that was long long time ago, in terms of the speed with we've slid and are still sliding into fascism right now.

Reflections on Mueller'sTestimony Before House Intelligence Committee, Wednesday Afternoon

Mueller's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, just concluded this afternoon, was stronger than his testimony before House Judiciary Committee this morning.

Schiff's opening and closing statements were both powerful, in contrast to Nader's, whose opening statement and questions were excellent, but whose closing statements were not memorable.   In general, Mueller answered more questions, and gave fuller answers.  He has a genuine passion about doing something to stop Russian interference in our electoral process. 

Unlike in previous years, Republicans do not share this, certainly not with the same passion.  This left the field open to the Democrats, who probed Trump's alliance as a candidate with Russians continuously and effectively.  In contrast, Republicans resorted to their typical tactic of yammering about straw-men, this time characters named Joseph Misfit and Kathleen Cadillac (well, that's what they sounded like).

But Russian interference with our last election, and the certainty that they will at least try to do it again, is no laughing matter.   If this afternoon's testimony wakes up more Americans to this problem, Mueller's appearance will have been worthwhile.

Whether this and the morning's testimony will empower the move towards impeachment, and/or the success of Democrats in the 2020 election for President and regaining the Senate, remains to be seen. My guess is it won't do much  for the first, certainly won't in itself lead to impeachment in the House, but may well have strong underlying effect in the next election, leading to Democratic success at the polls.

See also Reflections on Mueller's Testimony Before House Judiciary Committee, This Morning

Reflections on Mueller'sTestimony Before House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday Morning

Some assessments of Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, just concluded.

Mueller is clearly not a very fluent speaker, and all too often responded to questions by deflecting to his report, or just flat-out declining to answer the questions.   But there were several powerful responses from Mueller this morning:

• He agreed with and even said, in response to one question, that there were a lot of "liars" amidst the President's cadres.   He even characterized some of those people interviewed in his investigation as "outright liars".
• Although he refrained from specifically recommending impeachment, he acknowledged that impeachment was a next step, in view of his insistence that he as Special Prosecutor could not indict a sitting President.
• He repeatedly did not back down from his insistence that his report did not "exonerate" the President, as Trump and his supporters repeatedly claim.
• He strongly backed the people who worked for him in his office as "non-political," despite Republican claims to the contrary.

Most of the Republicans on the committee also came across as motor-mouths and nasty.  Their conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, etc came across as unpersuasive.  In contrast, the Democrats quoting from the Mueller, and getting Mueller to agree with their quotes, was an effective way of getting more details of the report out to Americans.

So, all in all, the morning session was very much worthwhile.  Mueller's testimony was valuable when he chose to answer the questions put to him.  But he should have answered more of them.

See also Reflections on Mueller's Testimony Before House Intelligence Committee, This Afternoon

The Romanoffs 1.7: End of the Line: The Adoption Racket

The adoption of Russian children by American parents has played a crucial role in Russian-American relations since 2012, when the Russian Duma, in retaliation for U. S. sanctions imposed upon Russia in the Magnitsky Act, prohibited the U.S. adoption of Russian children.  Conversations between officials in the 2016 Trump campaign, his son Don Jr., and Russian operatives - allegedly about the Russians helping Trump in the election in return for Trump's promise to work to end the Magnitsky Act - have been a large part of what the Mueller team has been examining in its investigation of possible collusion between Trump and the Russians in 2016.

The American adoption of a Russian baby in 2008 thus makes a highly timely topic for the 7th episode of The Romanoffs.  The American would-be mother, Anka, is cousin to Victoria, mother to the boy with hemophilia and Romanov descendant we got to know in the superb previous episode in Mexico City.  Anka and her husband Joe are thrilled when they first arrive in Vladivostok (end of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and hence the name of the episode).  But the euphoria soon turns to despair, anger, and discord, when the couple discover that the baby they came to adopt may be suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome.  The aftermath contains some of the most searing dialogue of the series (which is saying a lot), when Joe, for example, tells Anka that she came to Russia to adopt a white baby because she was too snobbish and racist to adopt a healthy black baby in L.A.

There is a clever, happy end of sorts - I won't tell you what it is - but it's truthfully a little hard to feel happy after all the ugliness and insecurities of the human soul bared earlier.  Excellent acting by Annet Mahendru (Nina from The Americans) as the Russian broker, and Kathryn Hahn and Jay R. Ferguson as the adoptive parents.  And kudos to Matthew Wiener for putting together a series of episodes with a common thread as different from one another as episodes you might see in seven different series.

Next week is the season one finale.

See also: The Romanoffs 1.1: The Violet Hour: Compelling, Anti-Binge Watchable Comedy of Manners ... The Romanoffs 1.2: The Royal We: A Walk on the Dark Side ... The Romanoffs 1.3: House of Special Purpose: Ghost Story ... The Romanoffs 1.4: Expectation: Unfulfilled ... The Romanoffs 1.5: Bright and High Circle: Music and Abuse ... The Romanoffs 1.6: Panorama: The Royal Disease ... The Romanoffs 1.8:  The One that Holds Everything: Writer on a Train

  
It all starts in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn walks off the set
of The Misfits and begins to hear a haunting song in her head,
"Goodbye Norma Jean" ...