Ragtag

Ragtag is the twenty-first episode of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Synopsis
In the last episode before the epic season finale, Ward's betrayal and HYDRA's shocking secrets are revealed as Coulson's team goes undercover on a mission that leaves no one unscathed.

Plot
Fifteen years ago, a teenage Grant Ward meets John Garrett at a juvenile detention facility, where he is being held after trying to burn down his family's home. After agreeing to join the secret organization Garrett says he works for, Ward is left in the wilderness alone, forced to survive for months until Garrett returns. Garrett eventually tells him about HYDRA's presence within S.H.I.E.L.D., and Ward agrees to join.

In the present, Coulson's team connect Project Centipede, Garrett, and others to a common source: Cybertek. Coulson and May infiltrate Cybertek to activate Skye's trojan she left on the hard drive, only to find file cabinets instead of mainframes. However, they learn that Garrett was the first subject for "Project Deathlok", which began in 1990. As such, Garrett's implants are failing, with a few months to live, desperate to complete the Project Centipede serum to save himself. Coulson's team finds the HYDRA base in Cuba, but Garrett's men have already left, except for several Centipede soldiers. Ward captures Fitz and Simmons, who split from the others to find the Bus, but Fitz is able to use an EMP device to short out Garrett's body.

The dying Garrett orders Ward to kill Fitz and Simmons, who are hiding from him in a locked room. Ward struggles with following through on the orders, deciding to eject the room into the ocean. Raina injects Garrett with the synthesized Guest House drug to work with his Project Centipede serum. Initially, the drug seems to cause an Extremis reaction, before Garrett stabilizes and claims to "feel the universe".

In Washington, D.C., Ian Quinn proposes the sale of Deathlok soldiers to the US government, using Mike Peterson's assassination of a Colombian drug lord as evidence of the program's success.

Cast
Main Cast:
 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
 * Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May
 * Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward
 * Chloe Bennet as Agent Skye
 * Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz
 * Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons

Guest Stars:
 * Bill Paxton as John Garrett
 * J. August Richards as Deathlok
 * B.J. Britt as Agent Antoine Triplett
 * David Conrad as Ian Quinn
 * Ruth Negga as Raina
 * Austin Lyon as Grant Ward (teenager)
 * Glenn Morshower as General Jacobs
 * Paul Elia as Diaz
 * Joel Johnstone as Ott
 * Jeffrey Muller as Agent Kaminsky
 * Ramon Hilario as Ernesto
 * Jay Montalvo as Reporter
 * Mark Berry as Navy Admiral
 * Aaron Landon as Pizza Delivery Guy

Locations

 * Plymouth, Massachusetts
 * Palo Alto, California
 * Cybertek
 * Havana, Cuba
 * Barbershop Headquarters
 * Washington, D.C.
 * Wyoming

Items

 * GH.325 (synthesized)
 * Berserker Staff
 * Hand-held Hypno Beam
 * EMP Joy Buzzer
 * Cigarette Laser
 * Quarter Walkie-Talkie Homing Beacon

Vehicles

 * The Bus
 * Jump Jet

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Cybertek
 * HYDRA
 * Deathlok Super Soldiers
 * United States Armed Forces

Mentioned

 * Howling Commandos
 * Night-Night Gun
 * I.C.E.R.
 * Dendrotoxin Grenade
 * Maynard Ward
 * Ace Peterson
 * D.W.A.R.F. Drones
 * Bogotá, Colombia