Episode 5 of "Zero Day" kicks off with Evan Green's liberation, as Bob openly rebukes George for his authoritarian demeanor. The tide of public opinion turns fiercely against George, fueled by whispers of CIA-esque torture inflicted upon Green. George confides in Sheila, recalling how he once watched his son attempt to skateboard and fall, never giving up despite the setbacks. Overcome with pride yet too preoccupied to express it, George wishes he could have fostered a different relationship with Roger. Sheila offers him solace, but George insists she refrain from defending him and instead speak the truth when summoned to testify against him before the Oversight Committee.
Dreyer menaces Mitchell, boasting of his bipartisan backing that she lacks, hinting that she cannot dismantle the commission but must cede it to him. Acknowledging his perilous nature, she also acknowledges his active candidacy against her, a fact he does not dispute. Carl and Valerie ponder the commission's impact, questioning whether it has deterred any looming attacks. Matters worsen as the photos of Anna, Hayes, and Green, provided by Lyndon to Roger, are deemed deepfakes. The commission speculates that Roger, burdened with guilt for sidelining them, took his own life.
At the committee hearing, Dreyer relentlessly peppers George with unsubstantiated accusations. Sheila's truthful testimony, however, inadvertently portrays George in a favorable light, a fact affirmed by Melissa. The atmosphere is solemn at Roger's funeral, where Valerie tries in vain to dissuade George from attending. Despite her efforts, he attends anyway, haunted by a flashback of a heated altercation with his son after catching him using drugs.Following the solemn funeral rites, he and Alex engaged in a poignant conversation, tinged with both sorrow and bitterness. She labeled her brother's demise a suicide, whereas he steadfastly maintained it was an overdose. He was consumed with regret for the pain he had inflicted upon his family and Roger, wishing he had heeded her advice. That very night, amidst introspective thoughts, he penned his resignation letter within the confines of his journal.
The commission began intensifying its efforts to decipher the cryptic messages transmitted over the radio frequency. Eventually, a skilled coder cracked the code, revealing that the perpetrators were indeed the elusive Zero Day attackers.
On Day 25, George imparted these findings to Mitchell. They discovered that the bank attack was the work of imitators, not Zero Day. Lyndon had vanished, and the Idaho server farm belonged to them. Mitchell informed George of Dreyer's menacing ultimatum but fought tooth and nail to secure him an additional 24 hours to expose the culprits.
Dreyer, irritated by the delay, filled Alex in on the situation. She was beside herself with worry, unable to reach George. In a state of desperation, she contacted Valerie, insisting that George either update the committee on their findings or resign before they ruined his career. Valerie, however, dismissed her concerns with a callous hang-up.
The following day, they laid a trap—George posed as Lyndon, claiming Roger possessed incriminating evidence in his apartment. The stakes were incredibly high, but the attackers took the bait. Just two hours before Dreyer's takeover, Leon, alias Blake Felton, showed up at Roger's apartment. Melissa detected something suspicious in his file—he was employed by Kidder. They promptly arrested him and obtained a search warrant for Kidder's premises.
At her residence, she firmly shut the door on Carl and his team, opting instead to livestream and taunt George for his coercive and unlawful tactics. George, acutely aware of the public's anticipation for Carl to make a forced entry, recognized this scenario as a setup. Meanwhile, Kidder was dragging her feet, frantically attempting to reach out to the Zero Day assailants. They had already abandoned her, leaving her desperate. She reached out to George and Valerie, insisting that she would only speak under the assurance of full immunity. Should they decline, she threatened to disclose that Valerie's daughter, Lily, was actually George's. Stunned silence enveloped them all, but before they could deliberate, gunfire erupted from Kidder's home, assaulting Carl's squad. Confusion cloaked Kidder's face, for she had given no such order. Carl was hit, granting his team the opportunity to breach the house and apprehend Kidder.
Mitchell breathed a sigh of relief as the squad uncovered incriminating evidence proving that Kidder's company, Panoply, had acquired and disseminated the Zero Day malware. The investigation seemed to have reached its conclusion, and the public rejoiced, speculating it was payback for the government's antitrust investigation against Panoply. Jeremy received a call and made the decision to travel to New York.
However, Alex was seized by panic, pleading with Dreyer to halt something urgently. He urged her to adhere to protocol, while she pulled out a radio and tuned into a specific frequency.
George returned home, expressing gratitude to Sheila for her unwavering support. Nevertheless, he was convinced that Kidder was merely a scapegoat, not the culmination of their pursuit. His suspicions were validated when Valerie called with alarming news. By the conclusion of Zero Day Episode 5, Kidder had been found hanged in her prison cell, leaving a haunting aftermath.
