Are Fear the Walking Dead’s New Villains Connected to the Group Who Took Rick Grimes?

Sunday's Fear the Walking Dead 514, "Today and Tomorrow," delivers new intel behind Virginia (Colby Minifie) and her Pioneers, whose far-reaching resources and efforts to expand "settlements" throughout the west leads Al (Maggie Grace) to suspect Virginia is tied to the shadowy CRM organization and soldier Isabelle (Sydney Lemmon). A helicopter belonging to that mysterious group will be responsible for the disappearance of The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) some seven months in the future.

Al and Morgan (Lennie James) encounter a frantic lone survivor, Tom (Joe Massingill), when he's pursued by a small pack of Pioneers. They learn Tom comes from a community of luxury condominiums called Paradise Ridge, since taken over by Virginia and her crew.

"They said they were trying to build something bigger, something better," Tom says. "They said that it wasn't about today, it was about tomorrow. I just wasn't part of it." When Al presses for more, Tom says again: "They said that what they were doing wasn't about today. It was about tomorrow. All they cared about was the future."

Later, Al confides in Morgan and tells him she encountered a similar worldview during the time she was missing, when she met a person who made an unexpected impact on her. "Someone who's organization might be working with these people... someone I never thought I'd see again."

In Fear 505, "The End of Everything," Al uncovered a growing conspiracy when she came across black-clad soldier Isabelle, who warned anyone wearing such a uniform is someone to be feared.

"We are a force who are not living for ourselves or for now," a tight-lipped Isabelle told Al of the CRM organization. "You have your stories already making every day the past. We have the future."

Isabelle would only reveal the organization is far-reaching and possesses valuable resources, including the ability to travel by helicopter. Isabelle said CRM is bigger than any one person — "It's bigger than you, it's bigger than all of us" — adding the future is "the only thing that matters."

Like the Pioneers, CRM has lofty aspirations. As Isabelle put it, "This is about the future and rebuilding what we all once had."

When captured by Virginia and her people, Al's suspicions deepen when she learns Virginia and the Pioneers are spread out across multiple settlements.

"We are trying to do the same thing you are," Virginia says of Al and Morgan's nomadic convoy of almost 40 people established to help needy strangers. "Well, not trying. Doing it." Virginia then says the future is "a lot easier to get to when you're not doing it on your own."

When Al asks if the Pioneers have helicopters, Virginia laughs it off. "Honey, we just got a gas supply yesterday," she says of the fuel claimed after murdering Logan (Matt Frewer) and his gang. "What made you have that crazy idea?"

Virginia's answer is enough for Al to accept the Pioneers have no connection to CRM.

Despite Virginia saying she's an "open book" and giving an answer that implies there's no link between the Pioneers and CRM, Al learned Isabelle's circle is so clandestine they kill their own to preserve their secrets — meaning if ties do exist between the two organizations, it's not an admission Virginia is likely to make.

After being released by the Pioneers, Al admits to Morgan she was desperate to find a connection so that she might one day reunite with Isabelle, who was whisked away by her obligations to CRM's mission. "Virginia, what she's doing," Al concludes, "this is not that."

TWD chief content officer previously confirmed more answers behind CRM will come in the Walking Dead movie franchise, where Lincoln reprises his role as Rick Grimes. New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 premiere Sundays on AMC.