Note: there will be spoilers below!
Recap
Coulson and Rosalind are having dinner at her place. She seems to be okay with Coulson infiltrating her work and she's going to keep pretending she doesn't know she's working for HYDRA (through Malick). She's ready to go back in but Coulson says he can't protect her inside. She mentions she scheduled a meeting with Malick but then suddenly is shot through the neck. It was a sniper shot from quite a distance away. Ward has begun his attack against Coulson.
Her phone rings and Ward tells him now he knows what it feels like to watch someone you care about bleed out. Ward mentions she was a leak but makes it clear this was personal. Some men were sent in to finish the job. Coulson puts up a good fight but eventually jumps out the window. Mack arrives just in time to drive him away.
At the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Coulson is angry. Talking to May, he wants to know how Ward thinks. He questions each of the original team to get more insight - May, Simmons, Fitz, and Daisy. Daisy says with her, he didn't put on an act. He was looking for something in each of them. She says, based on his past, she understands how he could be drawn into someone like Garrett. He doesn't kill because he feels nothing, he kills because he feels too much. Coulson says it sounds like she's willing to forgive him. She says she'll never forgive him. When he sees Hunter, he slams him against the wall for failing to take out Ward when he had the chance. He says he will give him another chance and puts Mack in charge as acting director. He's going to cross a line that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. can't.
Malick shows Ward five stones -- mini-Monoliths to re-open the portal. When Fitz and Simmons go off with Agent Banks, they're ambushed and Banks gets killed. Ward tries getting into Simmons' head. She refuses and tells him to do his worst. He says if she knew him, she'd know he'd never hurt her. But that doesn't mean he won't let another agent do it. Ward then talks to Fitz while they hear Simmons screaming in the other room.
Coulson and Hunter grab a guy at gunpoint. It turns out to be Ward's younger brother Thomas. They later call Ward. He sends Ward a live video of him but Ward knows Coulson won't hurt him. Then Hunter enters the picture and Ward's not happy. When they hang up, Thomas pleads for them not to turn him over to Grant. He said Grant would hurt others and make up stories just so he'd feel better. Calling Ward again, Thomas says he'd been trying to hide from him. With the call throwing him off, Coulson manages to trace the call. Angered, he goes to Simmons and demands answers about the portal.
At the castle where they were able to bring Simmons back through the portal, they prepare to open it again. They're going to send Fitz over to bring back HYDRA's first leader. Malick wants Ward to go over as well. Ward is skeptical but Malick says this is his chance to rise to his rightful place in HYDRA. Mack had decided to send agents over, including Lincoln and Joey, even if they're not quite ready. As the portal opens and they all jump through, Coulson jumps out of the plane right through the portal before it closes.
End: Ward, Fitz, and some HYDRA soldiers are on the alien planet. It's windy and hard to see. Coulson lands roughly, hits his head on a rock, and is knocked out.
Thoughts
Things are getting pretty nuts. Just when it looked like Coulson could finally trust Rosalind, they kill her off?!? Having Ward do it was perfect for his plan of revenge against Coulson. It's too bad Rosalind is gone because she was becoming likable and it was nice to see Coulson be able to get some semblance of a normal life instead of being 'on duty' all the time. Obviously her death was set up to escalate the war between Coulson and Ward.
It's still hard to see Ward do such vile things. He's the typical villain you love to hate. Seeing the other Agents talk about him in their interrogation with Coulson. Many viewers still want Ward to be redeemed, but like he said a few episodes ago to Malick, he doesn't want redemption.
It's understandable that Coulson would want to go off on his personal mission against Ward but what does that say about him as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. if he's willing to throw everything away for a personal vendetta? Sure, Ward is a threat that needs to be stopped but he's willing to go off the books to get the job done. What if another agent had a personal agenda? Would he be willing to allow them do whatever they wanted? This would be interesting if explored further. What accountability will he face from here?
I didn't think they'd be headed back to the alien planet so soon. The great thing about the show is there's no telling how things will end. We can assume the other HYDRA agents will be cannon fodder. There's only one more episode before the mid-season finale (and three month break). Pretty much each episode has had explosives consequences. Let's hope we don't get too big or painful of a cliffhanger next week to make us suffer for the three months.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not messing around and they don't appear to be taking any prisoners. We're not seeing how characters aren't very safe, at least the new ones. The feud between Ward and Coulson has increased to a crazy level. We're at the point where we're sitting on the edge of our seats each week. The show hasn't really slowed down this season. It's hard to imagine what they're going to throw at us next week. I'm almost afraid to watch but obviously there's no way anyone will want to miss it. The show keeps getting better and better.