I haven't read all the pages in this thread since I went to bed last night, so some of this speculation might have been said already.
Anyway, what a great ep last night. So many big pay offs, and lots of new set up.
I don't think we've seen the last of Whitehall. Maybe we did, but maybe someone loyal to him rescued him and put him in some life-sustaining armor. Is that too similar to Garrett's situation? If Whitehall IS done for, do you guys think we're done with HYDRA on the show for a little while? And the rest of the season will focus more on inhumans than battling HYDRA, since Coulson's new shield only seemed to be in direct conflict with this particular hydra cell?
Ward and Agent 33 are obviously teaming up or working together, at least for a bit. What will be Ward's agenda now? Skye/Daisy probably thinks he bled out, so it will be a shock when he comes back. I toyed with the idea that he would take over the HYDRA cell now that Whitehall is potentially gone, but he's been insisting all along that he's no loyalist. (On the other hand.... if Whitehall is rescued by some Garrett-like armor, maybe it's because Ward had knowledge of Project Deathlok, and he shared that knowledge with this hydra cell to create Kraken armor based on the deathlok technology...?) Or is that too far a stretch??
I strongly believe we haven't seen the last of Cal/Hyde. I know that AoS doesn't really do this sort of thing, but I'd love to see an episode, or even a sequence, from his point of view. We follow him to his office where he is giving himself some sort of treatment, maybe mumbling that there's no reason to hold back the dosage now that he has nothing to lose, and he goes full-on Hyde (maybe he even has stacks of the book laying around, showing that he's clearly obsessed with that story of a normal man unlocking his "potential"). Either way, I want to see at least a bit more of him. There is a lot that can be done there (especially now that his beef with Coulson has been turned up a notch!).
As for Raina, i think it's still pretty vague as to who she might be, if she is even a character from the comics. She doesn't look very snake-like, but I was thinking about how Hyde partners with Cobra in the comics and considered that she could be some version of that character (but there are probably lots of more likely options... the thought just crossed my mind).
Tripp... we'll miss you.
And of course, I can't wait to watch the "Quake" story unfold, now that they've finally released the slow-build pay-off! The second half of the season is going to be awesome. Inhumans, rogue Ward and 33, whatever Raina is, Hyde out there somewhere, not to mention new threats, an Ultron tie-in, and who knows what else (Graviton return eventually?).
It's a good time to be a fan. Bring on Agent Carter!