Zero Day’s Alexandra Mullen: Did She Get Arrested In The End?

Often, strained relationships between a child and their parents are the result of the multiple setbacks that a person experiences over a period of time. There was a reason why Alexandra went against her own father in Zero Day season 1. She was a sensible woman; she was a competent politician, but still, she chose to put her faith in Richard Dreyer and not in her own father, primarily because of the perception she had about George Mullen.

Spoiler Alert

You know, a lot of times, I see that being estranged from one’s parents is treated as a yardstick that is used to judge a child’s character. But what we do not realize is that no child likes being in that state, and their reaction is a byproduct of multiple negative experiences that shape their sensibilities and force them to be a certain way. Alexandra was not always this way. There would have been a time when she would have looked up to her parents and wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father. Through this article, let’s try to find out what fueled Alexandra’s motivation so much so that she decided to be a part of Richard Dreyer’s conspiracy and go against her own government.

Nick Mullen’s untimely demise

I believe Nick Mullen’s death, for which Alexandra blamed her father, had a huge impact on the Mullen family’s dynamics, and also, individually, it affected every member of the family. Nick died due to a drug overdose, but Alexandra always felt that he took his own life because he didn’t get the care and affection that he craved from their father. That gave birth to a very negative emotion inside Alexandra. She started to feel that her father was an extremely selfish man who didn’t care about what happened to them as long as his political career survived. In such situations, I have often realized that you cannot quantify things being right or wrong. Everybody has a unique perspective, and no two minds can think alike, even if they are family members. According to George Mullen, whatever he did was the right thing for him, for his family, and probably even for his nation. We cannot imagine how burdened with responsibility George might have felt when he sat on that chair in the Oval Office and gave orders. Probably, he would have prioritized his professional life, and he would have known before taking the oath what sacrifices he would have to make. Eventually, Alexandra stopped talking to her father, and moreover, she started seeing him as a very selfish man. There was a part of Alexandra that believed that George Mullen didn’t care for the welfare of his nation as well. When she sided with Richard Dreyer, she felt as if she was doing a great service to her country. It could be said that her personal biases played a key role in helping her make that decision.

Was Alexandra Misled By Richard Dreyer?

In ideal circumstances, the benefit of the doubt shouldn’t have been given to anybody who decided to collude with Richard, because it was clear that the man just wanted to cater to his vested interests. Yes, he was a good orator, and he might have twisted his words to present a false narrative in front of his fellow conspirators, but still, nobody was so naive that they believed that his intentions were based purely on the feeling of national welfare. We got to know at the end of Zero Day, when Alexandra confronted Richard Dreyer after the alleged suicide of Monica Kidder, that she was made to believe that would be no casualties. I don’t think that Alexandra was so ignorant of reality, though it’s possible that in her quest to prove her father wrong, she let her subconscious believe that the nation needed an inevitable force like Richard Dreyer. In my opinion, Alexandra harbored certain delusions intentionally and then forged them into her reality. After the first cyber attack, when around 3400 people ended up losing their lives, Alexandra’s bubble burst, but she still chose to stay quiet as she knew that she was knee-deep in the swamp and there was no way out of it. I think Alexandra had made herself believe that her father was a self-absorbed human being who didn’t care about the nation’s future. Maybe Alexandra would have thought about social welfare, but clearly, her co-conspirators weren’t hung up about it. I believe that if Alexandra hadn’t harbored such strong negative emotions against her father, she would have been able to see through their ruse. She would have been able to see that there was not much of a difference between the modus operandi of a dictator and someone like Richard Dreyer. 

Why did Alexandra confess to her crimes? 

For the longest time, Alexandra let her past affect her thinking, and she managed to detach herself from reality. She didn’t see that it was her father who was trying to do the right thing, while Richard Dreyer was ready to put the lives of the people at risk in order to achieve what he had set out to do. Richard talked about eliminating the political fringes and leading the country to a more secure future, but in the end, all his philosophies became a tool to camouflage his real intentions, i.e., being in power. When Alexandra’s bubble burst, she realized what she had done. She held herself responsible for the death of Monica Kidder and all those innocents who lost their lives due to the technology outage. Alexandra, in the end, had a heated argument with her father, and that’s when she realized that she had committed a huge blunder. I believe that before George Mullen gave his speech in the House of Representatives, Alexandra handed herself over to the authorities and provided them with all the evidence that they needed to put Richard Dreyer and other co-conspirators behind bars. And with George exposing the real culprits in the public, I don’t think Alexandra will ever be able to lead a normal life again. She would likely be charged for treason against her own country and killing so many innocent individuals for which she would have to spend the rest of her life in prison. But she always knew the consequences of her actions.

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