The Walking Dead Theory: Does Pope KNOW About Daryl?

In the latest episode of The Walking Dead, Daryl’s attempts to spy on the Reapers got more dangerous. Does Pope KNOW? I try to find out.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the first quarter of this season of The Walking Dead. Partially because the last few episodes have been about Daryl playing double-agent inside the Reapers, with each moment making you wonder if Daryl will get found out.

This week, Daryl was forced to interrogate Frost, one of the two remaining Wardens, to try to pry information out of him about Maggie. All the while trying to keep him alive by convincing the Reapers that Daryl’s relationship with Maggie’s team was only peripheral and being “the good cop.” While Daryl was forced to cut off one of Frost’s fingers, it might have saved his life…

…For a little while, anyway.

As the episode ended and Daryl, Leah, and Carver returned to Meridian, Pope revealed that he “interrogated” Frost after the trio left, resulting in Frost’s eventual death. While Pope didn’t elaborate, he informed the trio that he got everything from Frost that he needed, smirking all the way.

The Walking Dead Theory: Does Pope KNOW About Daryl?

Let’s start with what we know. We know that Pope interrogated Frost further after Daryl, Leah, Carver, and the rest of their team left. We know that Frost didn’t survive this interrogation, and we know that, according to Pope, he “…got everything [He] needed out of him“.

Now, judging by Pope’s reaction, this would suggest that Frost cracked and revealed to Pope that Daryl was, in fact, part of Maggie’s team. One would think that him being all smiles as he spoke about it means he knows Daryl isn’t what he seems and is just waiting to lower the boom on him.

However, this is why I’ve framed this as a question rather than a statement. You see, the only person we have to go on about this, is Pope himself. From what we’ve seen of how the Reapers treat captives, they resort to waterboarding (If they did it to Daryl, it’s a good guess that they did it to Frost, too), pulling fingernails, good, ol’ fashioned beatings, and, thanks to Daryl, severing fingers outright. Yet, despite all of this, Frost didn’t break. One has to ask: If Frost wouldn’t break under all of this abuse, why should we believe Pope would make a difference? If Pope has this trick to guarantee a confession, why didn’t he break it out immediately instead of having Carver waste time beating Frost up?

I think this is the perfect time to bring up something that Carver said while arguing with Daryl over whether or not to search the area for Maggie and her team. During that argument, when Leah questioned Carver about allowing Pope to try to burn her alive when trying to see what Daryl was made of, he replied, “Everything is a test, now.”

…Huh. “Everything is a test, now”. Well, isn’t that interesting?

Cards on the table: I don’t think that Pope knows. I’ll go out on a limb and say that, at least at the end of this week’s episode, I don’t even think Pope suspects Daryl of treachery, not any more than he suspects anyone else. I think that recently, Pope has been getting increasingly paranoid. Look at what he did to Bossie. None of the Reapers saw that coming. Leah clearly saw him wanting to get on Bossie’s case, as she tried to get him to back off (See my one of my previous theories for more on that dynamic), but judging by their reactions, no one on the team expected him to throw Bossie in the fire and burn him to death.

Furthermore, it seems that this issue may be going back even longer than has formally been indicated in the show. As I discussed last week, while roaming the woods, Negan, Maggie, and Alden found a walker with a “Judas” sign over his head, burnt to a crisp. If my theory is correct, this wasn’t just some rando, but was another Reaper who, upon being deemed a traitor by Pope, met much the same fate as Bossie did.

What this all means for Daryl is that Pope doesn’t suspect him; he suspects everybody. I think that Pope is slowly becoming paranoid, perpetually questioning who he can trust and when the people around him will betray them; this is why “everything is a test” because it is. Everything he does is meant to test his subordinates, constantly checking if he can trust them for another day; Daryl just happens to now be part of that team.

…Besides, if Pope knew about Daryl, don’t you think he would have done something about it already?

But, what do you think? Do you believe Pope knows about Daryl? If so, why hasn’t he done anything? Or, do you think Pope is just falling down the rabbit hole of paranoia and is just testing everyone, including Daryl? I’m curious to hear! If you enjoyed this and want to learn how to stay alive in a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also get it at Amazon here, on iTunes here!