How The CRM Changes Could Impact Alexandria and Hilltop

Summary

• Rick and Michonne’s plan against CRM leads to new leadership and a focus on aiding communities, rather than fear.
• CRM’s changes offer hope for a brighter future, with improved communication, travel, and potential solutions to humanity’s fate.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live ended just the way Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) hoped it would. The pair managed to take down the Civic Republic Military (CRM), including General Beale (Terry O’Quinn) along with all the high-ranking CRM officers. This, according to a radio report delivered at the end of the final episode, led to sweeping changes that will ripple through other communities as well. It could lead to drastic changes for the other still standing communities.

What Changes Are Happening At the CRM?

After Rick killed General Beale, he and Michonne devised an elaborate set-up to use the CRM’s network of explosives against the rest of the high-ranking soldiers. They set them off at an all-hands meeting, killing everyone on site. After that, the Civic Republic was made privy to the nefarious things that Beale and his team and had done and planned to do. This led to major changes at the top.

Audio from a CRM radio report indicates that after learning of the “shocking revelations,” the Civic Republic unanimously decided to call for emergency oversight. Lower ranking officers would still presumably be in place since none of them were aware of the secret plans Beale was working on. Those plans were only shared with soldiers who had received the Echelon briefing: others remained in the dark, believing they were serving and protecting the Republic.

The CRM appointed a new council to oversee the military and flip the script. The focus would no longer be on defense but on providing aid and assistance. The new rules mean citizens can come and go as they please. People who were captured could return to their families if desired and new citizens would be welcomed with open arms if they wished to stay and contribute to the well-being of the community.

Most importantly, the CRM promised to assist any community or individual that was in need of help. There would be no more scientific experimentation, at least not on humans. And the CRM would no longer be a mysterious military organization to be feared.

Where Do Alexandria, Hilltop, and The Commonwealth Stand?

This could prove pivotal for the three main communities from the main show The Walking Dead, many of which saw citizens disappear without any idea what happened to them. One of the most notable is Heath (Corey Hawkins) who, it was confirmed, had been captured by Jadis and traded to the CRM. If he is still alive, he could make his way back to Alexandria and reunite with his surviving friends.

Where do the three core communities stand today? When we last saw Alexandria Safe-Zone, located in Virginia, the self-sufficient, solar-powered community had been taken over by the Commonwealth Army and turned into a labor camp called Outpost 22. But following the revolt and the core group defeating The Commonwealth leadership, Alexandria was restored to the community it once was. By the end, Alexandria was running as an independent community, allied with The Commonwealth and led by Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). Other familiar faces who continue to reside there include Jerry (Cooper Andrews).

One of the most impressive communities the group came across was The Commonwealth, located in Ohio. It is almost completely isolated from the outside world such that anyone residing inside would have no idea of the horrors that go on outside of its walls. Following the overthrowing of Governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins), Ezekiel (Khary Payton) was named the new Governor working alongside Deputy Governor Michael Mercer (Michael James Shaw) to run the community as a democratic one. Currently residing in The Commonwealth is Judith (Cailey Fleming), RJ (Antony Azor), Magna (Nadia Hilker), Kelly (Angel Theory), Connie (Lauren Ridloff), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Princess (Paola Lázaro), along with Eugene (Josh McDermitt), his new wife Max (Margot Bingham) and their daughter Rosie, named in honor of Rosita (Christian Serratos). This is presumably where Rick and Michonne will join their children.

Following the awful leadership of Gregory (Zander Berkeley), the brutal fight with the Saviors, the Whisperers attack, and The Commonwealth’s overtaking, the Hilltop Colony, also in Virginia, was all but decimated. But under Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) leadership, the community was rebuilt and is once again thriving. Both Lydia (Cassady McClincy), and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) reside there. At one point, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his wife Annie (Medina Senghore) either lived at Hilltop or somewhere close by. Maggie, as fans of The Walking Dead: Dead City know, left the community in good hands to travel to New York where she faces new challenges with her son Hershel. She also reunited with Negan who, years later, somehow ended up there as well.

Thus, when fans left all three communities at the end of The Walking Dead, they were all doing quite well.

How The CRM Changes Can Impact The Communities

Presuming the community trio is still thriving and working with one another, they would likely not require much help. But the very knowledge that help is available from the CRM when needed is reassuring.

If medical attention is necessary that someone in the community cannot provide, for example, a simple radio to the CRM could save a life. Attacks from rogue groups would be less likely if it’s known that there’s a military group that can be just about anywhere via helicopter to stop it. The same goes for herd attacks: if emergency aid is needed, all that’s required is a working radio to notify CRM soldiers. If the CRM circles communities periodically, they might be able to advise of pending attacks or even stop them. The CRM could effectively function like law enforcement and first responder services for the new America.

Speaking of helicopters, this could make travel between communities much easier. Alexandria Safe-Zone and Hilltop Colony, located in Alexandria and Culpeper, Virginia, respectively, are about an hour and-a-half’s drive or a day’s walk away from one another. Being able to commission a helicopter, if this service is offered, to travel from one to the other, could be a game-changer for trade.

This is even more so between those two communities and The Commonwealth. Located in Ohio, The Commonwealth is about 400 miles away, so it’s realistically a seven-hour drive or a week’s walk with stops to rest. A helicopter ride could shave hours off that journey, whether it was for trade, personal visits, or business dealings.

If control remains in the hands of a council of residents, and the CRM continues to be as productive as it is, the changes that General Beale set out to achieve could still become reality without the death and destruction of other communities that was core to his terrifying plan.

Is The CRM The Answer?

The big question that still looms over any fairy tale ending relates to General Beale’s revelation to Rick just prior to his death. He advised that his team of scientists conducted extensive research and determined that based on factors like resources, disease, and the continued progression of the virus, humanity had about 14 years left to live.

Is he right and the inevitable end of the human race is just a decade and-a-half away? Is there anything that can be done to stop that? Perhaps with mass elimination of the undead, increased food production, population control, and new usage of existing resources, all with the help of the new version of the CRM, it’s possible they could prove his scientists wrong.

In The Walking Dead: Dead City, for example, The Croat (Željko Ivanek), a scientist, discovered that methane emitting from the rotting body of walkers could be harnessed as a fuel source. He figured out a way to do so efficiently, an innovation a regulating body in New York is eager to get its hands on. More ideas and use of existing resources like this could turn things around and prove Beale wrong, especially if the ideas are shared among communities and used to rebuild the world. If this is the case, Beale’s prediction of the looming death of civilization may have been nothing more than fear mongering.

The peace-of-mind and cohesiveness among the communities could grow ten-fold thanks to the CRM’s involvement. And it’s all thanks to Rick and Michonne. Their bravery led to what so many felt was impossible, and ushered in a fix that many didn’t even realize was needed in the first place.

Watch The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on AMC and stream episodes on AMC+.