Posted by The Walking Dead secretly reveals an explanation for what happened to the people named on the list Connie received earlier in season 11.
Early in The Walking Dead season 11 part 2, Connie receives a mysterious list with the
names of people who’ve disappeared from the Commonwealth. In the most recent episode, what happened to the people named on that list is finally revealed. The Walking Dead season 11 part 2 has the show delve fully into the Commonwealth story, as several of the show’s main characters now call the community home. It hasn’t been an entirely smooth transition, though, and many things about the Commonwealth have raised suspicions among the Alexandrian transplants.
On the surface, the Commonwealth appears to be the perfect post-apocalyptic community. It’s safe, well-supplied, and has more or less recreated life as it was before the outbreak. Propping up this idyllic society, though, is a corrupt system that exploits its people. Connie, having been an investigative journalist prior to the outbreak, is working to expose this corruption. She gets a major lead following the incident with Tyler Davis during Governor Pamela Milton’s gala, where after his arrest and disappearance, she’s given a list of names from a mysterious source. This list is dozens of names long and includes Davis, prompting the theory it’s a list of all the people who’ve caused disturbances in the Commonwealth and have been disappeared as a result.
In The Walking Dead season 11, episode 14 “The Rotten Core”, another explanation for Connie’s list of names is revealed. It begins with Daryl and Rosita being threatened by Sebastian, the Governor’s son, into retrieving a large sum of cash for him from an abandoned estate overrun with walkers. Once there, they discover a woman locked within its safe room. Her name is April, and she is the sole survivor of a previous group Sebastian sent in. She explains that she was in debt and desperate to clear it, so when a man offered her an opportunity to do so, she took it. Clearly, this is money that Sebastian and possibly others have been after for some time, and many people have died trying to get it. The fresh walkers surrounding the estate are proof of that, and the soldiers loyal to Sebastian even admit they’ve already sent in somewhere between 30-40 people. Now, the list Connie receives has more than 40 names, but it’s doubtful this incident is the first time something like this has happened. There’s even an April Kelly listed three names above Tyler Davis, creating a direct link between the list and the victims of Sebastian’s deadly cash grab. Altogether, this almost certainly means the list is made up of desperate Commonwealth residents pressured into dangerous situations by the most powerful in the community.
Another theory involving Connie’s list of names suggests it was Mercer who slipped it under her door. He was shown to be visibly upset when Tyler Davis was mysteriously disappeared from the hospital, suggesting he’d like to see these corrupt acts finally exposed. In this most recent Walking Dead season 11 episode, Mercer is revealed to be well aware that Sebastian is carrying out these sorts of missions. He also doesn’t approve, killing the two soldiers who helped Sebastian. But while their deaths will be easy to explain away, he insists on helping Daryl and Rosita deliver the money since he knows Sebastian would find a way to punish them if they didn’t. This only further suggests he’s aware of what’s going on and would like to see it stopped – but he’s not yet willing to take any direct action. Instead, he’s more likely to feed information to a savvy journalist who’s sure to piece it together, especially once she learns the ordeal her friends just went through.
What’s most alarming about this discovery, though, is that Walking Dead‘s deputy governor Lance Hornsby is also aware of what’s been going on. When Carol later mentions what happened, he reveals he’s been waiting on Sebastian to get that money and knows he’s been bribing and or threatening people to retrieve it. In fact, he may be orchestrating the whole thing and is just using Sebastian. The Walking Dead season 11 has already shown Hornsby running a shady operation without the Governor’s knowledge, and he just sent a kill squad to wipe out another community. Hornsby is a dangerous and powerful man, and crossing him is a big risk. But if Connie wants to expose what’s happened to the people on that list, she’s likely going to be up against Sebastian, Hornsby, and anyone else who doesn’t want to see the Commonwealth change.