Walking Dead: Does Designation Two involve the CRM?

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead is building to something big. Several of our survivors get taken to a labor camp, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) deals with some heavy emotions, and Connie (Lauren Ridloff) is being shipped away as a Designation Two. The episode ends with our survivors arriving back at Alexandria, now known as Outpost 22, where the episode gets its name, of the Commonwealth.

In the previous episode, several of our survivors were forcibly removed from the Commonwealth by order of Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins). Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) avoided being apprehended and were aided by the now-deceased Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) they were able to locate their family members.

Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Kelly (Angel Theory) were shipped to a labor camp, and Negan’s pregnant wife, Annie (Medina Senghore) sent to a different location. Maggie, Rosita (Christian Serratos), and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) escaped and would rendevous with Carol and Daryl.

The Walking Dead – Connie

Before Carol killed Hornsby, he revealed that the Commonwealth had a train in operation. This reinforces all the theories that the Commonwealth has some type of alliance with the CRM (Civic Military Republic).

When Carol and Daryl discover the supply train, they see Connie with a Commonwealth escort trying to get her passage on the train as a Designation 2 by the governor’s order. When this information is revealed, one of the tropper comments, “Oh, sh*t,” telling viewers this isn’t a good situation for Connie. Later in the episode, a dying Commonwealth soldier tells them, “I’ve only heard rumors about designation two. They’re taken somewhere far away. They’re never seen again.”

It appears that Designation One could be for the exiled laborers sent to the work camps. But Designation Two are special cases sent to the CRM.

Milton has a personal reason for singling out Connie, as pre-outbreak, she was a journalist known for taking down courput polictians, including Milton’s uncle. This would be the perfect way to punish Connie for what she did to Milton’s uncle and the rogue publication that also outed Sebstian.

This sounds like the scheme Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) had arranged with the CRM, where she traded people for supplies. In the spinoff series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, viewers would learn that the CRM used the people traded for experiments. Jadis would cross over to this spinoff as Warrent Officer Jadis Stokes (she took Gabriel’s last name). This is also where it would be revealed that Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was used as her ticket into the Civic Republic.

This would also explain all of the missing citizens from the Commonwealth. Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson) had used some for his heist project, but many others still are unaccounted for. If the higher-ups within the Commonwealth are trading people to the CRM, what do they get in return?

The Commonwealth is a vast community of 50,000 residents, but the Civic Republic boasts a population of over 200,000. Perhaps the alliances Hornsby previously mentions permits the Commonwealth to retain their independence from the Civic Republic.

Luckily the group was able to rescue Connie, but this opens up a whole new set of problems for the group. The CRM will undoubtedly play an essential role in the Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) spinoff. With only three remaining episodes, it will be interesting to see if the CRM is ever shown in the flagship series.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, November 6.

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