In Mulligan, after saving humanity from an alien attack, Matty Mulligan, a regular guy, becomes the president of the surviving humans, who are looking for a new leader. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
An army of aliens led by Axatrax attacks Earth. Billions of humans die at the hands of these aliens. Nations fall, and only Washington, D.C., remains the last city standing.
Matty Mulligan shows up out of nowhere with Miss America, Lucy. He throws a grenade inside the alien hive mind and destroys it, resulting in all the other alien spaceships going down.
The humans capture Axatrax, while Matty becomes a hero. Senator Cartwright LaMarr approaches Matty and convinces him to be the new leader of the surviving humans.
Matty agrees, and he becomes the president of this small surviving community, though he is not exactly fit to be the president. Matty knows nothing about running a government.
LaMarr doesn’t actually care if Matty is the right person or not. All he wants is a good-looking Matty to be the face of the government while he serves as the brain and forms the country the way he wants.
Lucy is the big obstacle that comes between LaMarr’s goals. Lucy plans to serve her country the right way. She pitches several ideas to make the place better, and they work. Matty actually listens to her just because he is in love with her, and this bothers LaMarr.
Lucy is warned by Dr. Farrah Braun, a cabinet member, that Matty probably does everything she says to impress her. Lucy is definitely getting all the help she needs from him to make the country better, but she shouldn’t pursue this relationship and get married to Matty if she isn’t attracted to him.
Lucy confesses to Matty that she isn’t attracted to him and that all she really likes is being the First Lady. It is going to be difficult, as the people see them as the country’s power couple. Lucy can’t be the First Lady and serve the country if she and Matty are not together.
Lucy suggests a White House tradition they can follow. Matty, as a president, can be with other women while she serves as the First Lady, just like how JFK and Jackie did.
LaMarr’s attempts to reform the nation continues. He invites Johnny Zhao, who is now the richest man on Earth, to the White House to start a currency. Unfortunately, Matty once again agrees with Lucy and declares that they really don’t need money as it hasn’t done anything good for him.
Since money doesn’t matter anymore in this country, Zhao is no longer the richest man. He loses his ship to his ship’s captain, Coleman. Zhao is left alone, and he is forced to find a job for himself.
Zhao steals a seat from a gym and offers it to Vance Barry, who spreads the news to the people now that printing presses and the internet are down. Zhao becomes partners with Barry, and together, they make sure to keep the people informed.
The country develops because of the adamant efforts of the likes of Lucy, Dr. Farrah Braun, and Simon Prioleau. Amidst all of this, Lucy gets attracted to Jeremy from the British Embassy.
Since all Englishmen are dead, Jeremy makes himself king. He proposes to Lucy and asks her to be his queen. They even kiss each other, but Lucy instantly regrets doing this.
Jeremy is everything Lucy has ever wanted in a man. Lucy confesses to Jeremy that it’s not Matty who is stopping them from being together. She also shares that she and Matty are not actually in a relationship. At the end of the day, Lucy chooses her duties toward the country over being Jeremy’s queen.
Meanwhile, Farrah and Simon make an incompetent Matty do the right thing by luring him into a treasure hunt, which will lead them to a seed vault. Matty gets furious when he realizes what they are doing, but he still ends up fulfilling his dream of finding a treasure when they come across a mysterious hidden door and a bunker at the seed vault.
Mulligan ending explained in detail:
What is inside the bunker?
Before Matty and his friends can open the door, LaMarr shows up there. He reveals that President Bradford Chadman could be inside the bunker. LaMarr learned this from the president’s book of secrets.
President Chadman and his cabinet members had plans to hide here if the aliens attacked. Matty’s group discusses whether they should open the door and let Chadman out. This will also mean that Matty will no longer be the president, as the real one is still alive.
Farrah says that they should choose Matty over that mean Chadman any day. Matty remembers Lucy’s wise words and decides to do the right thing by opening the door to the bunker. Inside, they find Chadman. He is the only person who has managed to survive.
Why is Chadman sent back to the bunker?
Chadman lies to Matty’s group about his cabinet members. He says aliens killed them. LaMarr realizes that Chadman doesn’t have a vice president, which means if Chadman is reinstated, he gets to be one, and he will once again have a chance to reshape the country the way he desires.
Chadman is brought to the White House. Matty’s group soon finds out that Chadman is paranoid. He killed his own cabinet members because he thought they were aliens. Now, Chadman intends to kill them as well.
Matty’s group can’t kill or imprison Chadman right away, as it’s against the law. Before the news about Chadman’s return could spread, they needed to get rid of him.
In order to do so, Matty’s group plays along with Chadman. They act as aliens and join Axatrax to assure Chadman that he is right. Later, they show up as surviving humans and convince Chadman to go inside the bunker again while they take care of the aliens outside.
What is LaMarr’s goal?
Matty’s people start figuring out that he is not fit to run a country. Matty’s group decides to actually listen to them. They plan to hold elections to let them choose the person they want and also think of creating a transparent government.
All the discussions of the cabinet members are held right in front of the people. LaMarr doesn’t agree with any of Matty’s group’s ideas. He wants to build a real America with real Americans running the country.
LaMarr seeks Zhao’s help, who has ideas to distract people from the real issue. He turns the discussions of the cabinet that take place live in front of people into entertainment by creating conflicts.
Zhao’s show works for the time being. It eventually fails. LaMarr gets lucky as some Americans on a huge ship arrive. They even recognize LaMarr as their vice president, giving LaMarr confidence to have the elections now.
Do Matty and Lucy end up together?
To spice things up during the cabinet discussions, Zhao showed the picture of Lucy kissing Jeremy. The picture infuriates Matty, and a whole lot of drama takes place.
Lucy is forced to choose between Matty and Jeremy. The people are divided into teams, such as Team Jeremy and Team Matty. During the show, Lucy learns that neither Matty nor Jeremy is perfect, and she can’t please people all the time.
For once, Lucy decides to be selfish and do what she wants rather than what people expect from her.
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