The further that Agents of SHIELD gets from The Winter Soldier’s premiere, and the impact of SHIELD’s collapse, the more it loses a bit of the intensity that the rise of Hydra brought to the table.  “Ragtag” doesn’t quite lose the momentum that has been driving the series of late, but as a penultimate episode, it’s a bit less than what one would expect.

 

A big part of that is the unexpectedly disappointing reveal about the relationship between Garrett and Ward.  In essence, Garrett rescued Ward from juvenile detention, and then left him in the middle of nowhere as part of an overall indoctrination program.  While I understand that Ward would adopt the “strength = survival” philosophy after six months on his own under those conditions, and that his childhood suggests some initial questionable moral code and need for a father figure, it doesn’t quite add up to the fierce loyalty that Ward gives to Garrett.

 

The writers try to sell it, especially towards the end.  After initially going with the trope of Ward pretending to shoot the dog as a final display of complete loyalty, perhaps playing with the audience’s expectation that Ward will turn on Garrett when push comes to shove, the final fate is left more ambiguous.  It’s strongly suggested that Ward still shot the dog, only using a sniper rifle instead of the more direct approach.  It leaves his motivations regarding Fitz and Simmons a lot more unclear; did he drop them into the ocean in that container so they would have a chance to survive, or was he expecting them to die?

 

The thing is, if Ward’s issue is that he was desperate for a father figure, and Garrett was the best option out of one, then it raises the narrative possibility that Coulson would present a more amenable alternative.  It would align rather well with Coulson’s approach with Skye, which Ward got to see front and center.  Yet there’s a part of me that likes the idea of subverting the trope and having Ward resist what would be that better option.

 

Speaking of Garrett, his motivations make a little more sense.  Being the first version of Deathlok, for all purposes, Garrett was getting no help for long-term survival from SHIELD.  Hydra, on the other hand, was willing to string him along.  It makes sense of Garrett’s fixation on Coulson’s survival, and also explains why Raina would become so disillusioned.  But it also decouples Garrett’s arc on the show a bit more from the overall Hydra connection, which is counterproductive.

 

On that end, the first half of the episode was a slightly awkward way of connecting all the pieces of the puzzle from the first season of Agents of SHIELD to the larger Hydra operations.  It all connects to Cybertek, so if Team Coulson manages to corrupt the Cybertek systems, it puts everyone on a much more level playing field.  How this will factor into the larger MCU plans is, of course, a big question, as is what will happen if Agents of SHIELD fails to gain renewal.  (Though, frankly, at this point it would be a stunning reversal of fortune.)

 

One last important plot point is the additional information about Skye’s true parentage.  While I was waiting for Ward to scoff at least a little bit about the notion of “monsters” being Skye’s parents, it does align rather well with the notion that Skye is a non-blue Kree.  What kind of latent abilities are still to be awoken would be interesting to ponder, but there was also an implication that Raina might have a similar background.  Now wouldn’t that be an interesting way to tie into Guardians of the Galaxy?