Should you watch it, wiki it, or wait for the recap? Watch it.
While Ward recalls his origins as a SHIELD agent, Coulson and his team race to locate Hydra and find out Garrett’s ultimate plan. But when Ward comes face to face with his former team mates, he must make a difficult decision – one that may have fatal consequences.
“Ragtag” refers to the ragtag band of merry men that Coulson has put together in this episode, which is… not really that ragtag considering he just replaced Ward with Triplett. At this point I went to Wiki Triplett and found out that he hadn’t joined up as a main cast member. I guess they just needed another male fighter for the role.
Anyway, this was an excellent Ward episode. It shows how he gained his skills and mentality, and explores his relationship with Garrett. Although Brett Dalton still doesn’t emote too well, it does explain Ward’s impassiveness and provides a reasonable justification for his loyalty to Garrett.
Highlights:
Coulson & May go undercover
It’s rare that either of them go undercover, and instead of the seriously, deadly agents that they are, the duo cosplay go undercover as geeky scientists. May, especially, hams it up with her overzealous smile and exuberant nodding. It’s even more amusing when Fitz & Simmons feeds them their tech dialogue and end up arguing through both May and Coulson.
On a more heartwarming note, it’s sweet to see that Coulson and May have reconciled their differences and are working together again. Coulson might have been the one who was betrayed, and he was pretty vocal about it, but May was the one who was even more hurt by the fallout, and it’s relieving to see that they are friends and partners again.
Garrett’s motivations
This episode sheds more light on Garrett’s (thus far) incomprehensible reasons for wanting an army of super soldiers – it’s not for the money, but for his life. This makes the stakes so much more personal for him, because if he fails, he dies. It helps you better understand his desperation and ruthlessness in advancing the Deathlok program. Still doesn’t make him likeable, though.
Ward’s background
We get so few Ward episodes (there was that one with the well and the drowning earlier in the season, but not much else) that anything which develops his character is a welcome answer to the mystery of this agent. It also makes his feelings for Skye that much more precious, simply because he’s never had anyone to love (besides a puppy that he had to kill).
Letdowns:
Ward knew Garrett was from Hydra the whole time?!
I can’t quite reconcile this. This makes Ward a traitor right from the very beginning. This shakes fundamental assumptions about his character. This makes all of his actions irredeemable, at this point. Why? If Ward had found out about Garrett later, sure, there’d be some way to explain away his actions as temporary insanity. But right now, Ward is just… evil. Sigh.
“Ragtag” serves as a great lead-in to the season finale by placing everyone’s stakes on the table and showing us why either faction is desperate to win this conflict. I’m stoked to see what the season finale is going to be like, and hopefully, the eventual team battle between the Agents of SHIELD and Hydra!
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