Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Ragtag is the penultimate episode of the season and has the team taking the fight to the Clairvoyant and Hydra as a whole. The issue of dealing with Ward isn’t as straightforward for the entire team since Fitz believes that Ward is being controlled by Garrett. But the latter two have a complex history as this episode opens up with Ward in a juvenile detention center years ago receiving a visit from Garrett. Apparently Ward set fire to his parents home and his brother was inside, and Garrett was offering him an opportunity to get out of trouble as well as be in a situation where no one would ever mess with him again. He tells Ward that he works for a secret organization and even though joining would be the hardest decision he could make it would be worth it or he could just stay in the detention center while more charges are filed against him. When Ward agrees to join at the last minute, hidden agents pull out guns against the remaining security guards and so begins the relationship between Ward and Garrett. So the seeds were planted long ago and somehow the murder of a drug lord in present-day Colombia, presumably by Deathlok, is part of their current schemes. And according to all the information Coulson and May have gone through it all points back to Cybertek, which is now the team’s target. But considering there is no longer an organization behind them is Coulson’s team too far behind and ill-equipped to take on Garrett and Ward?

This is also made clearer through more flashbacks with Ward and Garrett, and how Garrett took him from the detention center and left him in the woods to survive on his own for an extended period of time and learn the skills needed later on for his role. So Ward is recruited to Hydra before he’s actually accepted by S.H.I.E.L.D.. Their relationship consisted of all the skills Garrett taught Ward and the philosophy he tried to instill in Ward. These sequences were cool but weakened by the insistence on Ward not being a clear villain so it didn’t feel as life changing as it probably should have instead of just being informational.

There is some action this episode but not any substantial action, and even when 2 characters are put in harm’s way there is zero suspense because of Ward’s characterization. And a real opportunity was squandered here because the actors in this show have been shown to be capable of giving great performances during the more complex situations the second half of this season. Even early in the show when May and Skye finally discussed Ward that was better than this situation that was supposed to be suspenseful. However with many of the developments in this episode, as well as the way it ends, the stage is set for season finale to truly be a memorable one.

SUMMARY

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Ragtag is an okay episode that seemed out of place considering the tone of the second half of the season, and even though it had some interesting developments it just set the stage for more to occur in the season finale….hopefully. The insistence on Ward remaining a “good guy” betrayed the more recent events and lessened his back story and loyalty to Garrett, and I hope it’s understood that not every character in a show has to be a likable good guy to have an interesting story line. So with the stage set and all the characters in place, plus Nick Fury, I’m really looking forward to the season finale.