Fear The Walking Dead Theory: Civic Republic is not as safe as they think

Are Fear The Walking Dead’s hostiles preparing for war with The Civic Republic?

As far as planting seeds for later in the season (As well as the larger universe), I’m not sure I’ve seen a better episode of Fear The Walking Dead than episode 603.

On the surface, it was a good episode, but did not reveal anything too earth shattering. Yes, we saw Sherry reunite with Dwight, but, we had been getting hints about that since last season, so…this wasn’t a shock, per se.

However, when you look at the mystery that Al began to ponder as this episode reached its end, you can see the beginning of something, potentially, much larger.

You see, after curing the survivors at the CRM’s “Drop Site Baker” of the black plague, Althea speculated to Dwight that the people who wrote the slogan “The End Is The Beginning” (Whom I’m calling “The Beginners”) may have been responsible for filling the skyscraper with plague-infested rats, presumably, with the intent of infecting all of its occupants with the horrible disease.

Earlier this week, in one of my Fear The Walking Dead Theories, I questioned if The Beginners were a death cult, a group not unlike the Whisperers, obsessed with bringing about the destruction of what remains of civilization, though, in furtherance of some warped idea of a “new beginning”.

If I’m being honest, that was only half of my theory about The Beginners. You see, while I do believe this is one of the possibilities for the nature of The Beginners, it’s not the only theory I’m considering, because Nora’s group were not the only people in (Or, more appropriately, on) Drop Site Baker, which, as the name implies, was supply drop for the Civic Republic Military.

Fear The Walking Dead Theory: The hostiles of Texas are preparing for war with The Civic Republic.

Once I started thinking that The Beginners planted the plague rats in order to kill off Nora’s group, I started asking myself why, and, while I came up with one theory, I couldn’t ignore the nagging part in the back of my mind that told me: “It wasn’t for them.

It hit me as I thought back to Al warning Isabelle away from the building, telling her it was infested with the plague. It occurred to me that, if Isabelle (Or, anyone else from the CRM, for that matter) came to the building and stumbled upon a rat or two, they, potentially, could have brought the black plague back to the Civic Republic with them, and I thought “Maybe that was the plan”.

Suddenly, the idea that the one building in the area that the CRM just happen to be using is coincidentally selected to be infested with plague…didn’t seem so coincidental anymore.

I mean, it’s not like the CRM were being terribly stealthy with their activities: They were flying in and out of Drop Site Baker with enough frequency that Mark Smith considered it worthwhile to try to ask them for help, so, it wouldn’t have taken much for another group in the area to figure where they were landing, eventually. If The Beginners are indeed determined to create a “new beginning” by destroying the old world, what bigger emblem of that old world is there than a group with the resources to be flying around Texas, leaving supply dumps all over the place?! None that I can see.

I think it’s possible that The Beginners planted the plague rats, not to destroy Nora’s group, but, to potentially spread the black plague to the CRM, because, if a CRM member was bitten by a walker, they’d likely just be eliminated (Or, as the latest episode of World Beyond revealed, experimented on), but, if they were bitten by a flea, or worse, had one stowaway on them, they could spread an absolutely devastating disease for days inside the Civic Republic without anyone realizing!

I even think that the reason The Beginners left their calling card was as some warning to the CRM, should the plague spread amongst them. If they traced the source back to Drop Site Baker, they’d see it, and get the message that it was no accident, and that The Beginners were gunning for them.

And that’s it for this Fear The Walking De…wait. I said “hostiles“, didn’t I? Oh, yeah…

You see, there’s something that was said on last week’s episode of Fear The Walking Dead that, while I questioned it at the time, it felt like I was the only one who was, and no one else mentioned anything about it in that episode or this week’s, so, I figured the matter would be revealed to us much later in the season. That was, until, I came up with this theory.

After Strand led the “2nd Chancers” at the sugar refinery to victory over the warehouse walkers, he was, surprisingly, greeted by an elated Virginia, who explained that the thing she wanted from the warehouse wasn’t an actual object, but rather, something to come of the act of clearing it: A leader. She wanted someone who showed they had the ability to muster the ragtag group of survivors she had under her control and create, as she said “an army“.

“”An army”?” I thought. “What the hell does she need an army for? It couldn’t be Morgan. She can’t be that afraid of him, right?” I remember asking myself. Well, with the revelation of The Beginners planting the plague rats at Drop Site Baker, I think I figured out what Virginia needs an army for: The Civic Republic.

Is it really so strange of an idea? Rick was seeing a random helicopter as early as his arrival in Atlanta in the very first episode of The Walking Dead, so, it’s not like it’s impossible that other groups in other parts of the country might have taken notice of CRM choppers flying around their areas, eventually.

I think Virginia or her rangers noticed the CRM choppers flying around across Texas, may have tried to contact them, and met the same fate as Mark Smith. I would imagine this convinced Virginia that she needed more than what she had if she was going to get anything from the CRM, and that this set her on the path to get taking the oil field, expanding, and trying to build an army, so that, when she met the CRM again, she would have the means to force them to share their supplies.

Ultimately, what does this all mean? Well, I think it means that the Civic Republic is not as safe as they might think they are. I think their continued operations in Texas have gotten the attention of ever larger groups in the state, who have deduced, at least in part, how big the CR is, and are actively planning to, if nothing else, make Texas a…no-fly zone in the immediate future.

Could it be that these groups, despite their differences, realize that they have been preparing for war with a common enemy? Possibly, though, it’s tough to say whether they’d actually put aside their differences (Especially if The Beginners are as demented as I think) to actually deal with the CRM, or instead, war with something more immediate, i.e. each other.

All I can say for sure is that the CRM’s antics have not gone unnoticed. I think they’ve caught the eyes of an increasing number of hostile groups of people and, sooner or later, things will come to some kind of a head. Whether that will be a quick massacre by the CRM or not I can’t say, but, I think something is coming.

We’ll just have wait and see.

But, what do you think? Do you think The Beginners or the Pioneers are preparing for war with the Civic Republic? Or, do you think they’re not even aware of them, at all? Do you think the shows are all converging on some massive war with the CRM, or do you think they’ll only have a peripheral role in Fear The Walking Dead? Let me know! And, if you want to hear my theories on how to survive a zombie apocalypse in the real world, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also find it at Amazon here, and on iTunes here!