Zero Day’s Proteus: Was The Weapon Real? What Did Mullen Find In The Birdfeeder?

From the very beginning of Zero Day, ex-president George Mullen had been hearing a static buzzing sound in his head, which eventually started to cloud his judgment and took a toll on his mental health. Mullen, struggling to figure out the reason for his frequent dizziness and mood swings, suddenly came up with the name “Proteus” in the middle of an investigation. But what was it? And was it really toying with Mullen’s mind? Well, I don’t think so.

Spoiler Alert

Was Proteus real?

So, back in the day, when Mullen was still the president, he had sanctioned a top-secret government program called Proteus. It was a neurological weapon designed to cause a brain injury on a target from a distance. And it was so discreet that the origin of such an injury could never be traced. For some reason, Mullen’s chief of staff and past lover, Valerie Whitesell, believed that Mullen had become a target of the evil invention he himself had authorized the creation of, though it wasn’t the case, at least not literally. It’s true that Mullen showed all signs of a traumatic brain injury that made him hear the high wave buzzing sound and made him blank out at times. But Mullen, who allowed the development of such a weapon already, would have known that, right? So basically, Proteus wasn’t real. The project was never finished, and it’s quite unlikely that someone got their hands on a top-secret government program to complete the weapon.

Why Did Mullen Bring Up Proteus?

The controversial neurological weapon was nothing but Mullen’s own mind playing tricks on him, making him regret the decisions he had taken during his tenure. In an ideal world, a weapon like Proteus wouldn’t exist, and somewhere at the back of his head, Mullen already knew that. It was something he wasn’t very proud of, but just like his son’s death, he couldn’t do anything to erase that weapon from the pages of history. His curse is, the files on Proteus will forever exist, at least in a government locker or somewhere else, and Mullen has to live with the fear that such a weapon could be completed, replicated and misused. I believe the mind of Mullen, who knew everything about the program inside out, started to punish the man by making him go through all the symptoms a victim would have experienced if something like Proteus was ever triggered. During the course of the Zero Day investigation, Mullen’s brain started to mimic dementia and psychosis. He started to experience severe stress, sleep deprivation, and hallucinations for which there wasn’t any cure. Mullen wasn’t the target of anything foreign or external. But he became a victim of his own traumatic guilt.

Why Was Proteus Never Finished?

In the series, both Valerie and CIA Director Lasch pointed out that Proteus was never finished. The United States government had to develop the weapon in complete secrecy as it was in complete violation of the Geneva Convention. And the program was shut down before the weapon was finished. My best guess is that the scientist might have started working on the project during Mullen’s first term in office, and his team might be confident that they would be running and returning for a second term, during which they would successfully finish the project. However, due to his son’s tragic death and the illicit affair that took place behind closed doors at the White House, Mullen decided to step down from the presidential race and not to run for a second term. It’s likely that Proteus was abandoned the moment Mullen left office; however, the ex-president never forgot the things he had started. The memory of such a weapon got stuck in some dark corner of his consciousness, which finally came out once he returned to public service and started a routine he had retired from years ago. And I know you might want to raise a question about how Mullen’s old friend, Natan, knew about his symptoms, but you see, throughout the series, Natan hadn’t been any less paranoid than Mullen. The all-knowing laundry guy obviously knew about Proteus and might have hinted to Mullen that the past had come back to haunt him, though this warning was more symbolic than literal.

What Was The Device Mullen Found In The Birdfeeder?

In Zero Day’s ending, Mullen found a mysterious device stuck inside the bird feeder of his garden, which he believed could be the Proteus, though that wasn’t the case. It was debris of indeterminate origin that the birds might have dropped or left in the feeder, and Mullen’s brain, obsessively seeking answers, tried to connect the dots that weren’t there. It was evident that, throughout these years, Mullen had lost control of himself. Those medicines on his shelf did indeed have a side effect on his mental health, and after all these years, Mullen could no longer tell what’s real and what’s not. In the end, in a quite symbolic way, he decided to take charge of his life and not let his actions or judgment be controlled by other men. He revealed the truth about the cyber attack to make peace with himself, and in a way, Mullen overcame his internal and external conflict, even though he paid a huge price for such a victory. He lost both his daughter and wife, and there’s no way they would be coming back to him anytime soon. The old man was left alone… But at least he didn’t have any guilt left trying to haunt him in his loneliness.

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