Crawl Space (Breaking Bad)
"Crawl Space" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the American television crime drama series "Breaking Bad", and the 44th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on September 25, 2011. The episode introduces Barry Goodman, played by JB Blanc. Plot. Making their escape after killing off Don Eladio Vuente and the Cartel's leadership, Jesse Pinkman drives Gus Fring, who is weakened due to taking his own poison, and Mike Ehrmantraut, who is wounded, to a makeshift emergency room that Gus earlier prepared. Gus recovers quickly , but Mike has to stay another week before he can safely travel, so he is left behind in Mexico. Jesse is told that he will take over cooking meth for Walter White, but Jesse insists that Walter must not be harmed. Gus later visits Hector Salamanca, who is using a wheelchair and living in a nursing home. Hector is in the nursing home's day room, watching the climactic scene of "The Bridge on the River Kwai". Gus visits Hector and taunts him as the Salamanca lineage has now been destroyed. When Hank reveals that he will be visiting the  laundry Walt works at, the latter deliberately crashes his car, forcing Hank to stop using Walt as his chauffeur. Meanwhile, Ted partly blackmails Skyler about the $617000 required for paying off the IRS. Skyler organises to blackmail Ted into signing the cheque with Saul's men, Huell and Kuby. Ted gives in, signing the cheque but attempts to escape. As he does, he slips and hits his head, knocking himself out. Walter realizes that Jesse has also been cooking in the lab. Walter pleads for them to stick together to thwart Gus, but Jesse, still bitter after their fight , turns his back on Walter. Walt is then abducted and taken out to the desert where Gus threatens him, Hank and his family. Walt is told never to come back to the laundry again. Panicked, Walter barges into Saul's office and takes Saul up on an earlier offer to be vanished. This will cost Walt and his family half a million dollars. Walter rushes home to get the money which isn't there and Skyler discloses that she gave the money to Ted to pay off the IRS. Walt breaks down and laughs maniacally. As Skyler backs away, Marie  Schrader, crying, calls to say that the DEA has received an anonymous tip that Hank is a target again, and the DEA is sending many agents to guard him. Analysis. Sean Hutchinson of "Inverse" analyzed the final shot of "Crawl Space", in which the camera pans outwards from Walter laughing hysterically in the crawl space. Pulsating music ends with a feedback screech and cut to black. The shot's framing mirrors that of Walter's later death in the finale. Hutchinson viewed it as black comedy, saying that Walter is realizing that he is not in control of the situation . This realization is caused by multiple things: Hank being close to discovering Gus and Walter's operation; Gus firing Walter, as Jesse can work on his own; and Skyler having given most of their money to Ted to pay a debt. Hutchinson saw the storyline as part of the "open-ended action" that often led to characters appearing to have no way to resolve the situation, but finding a plausible way to do so. Reception. Due to his nomination, Bryan Cranston submitted this episode for consideration for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for  the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards. Critical reception. The episode received laudatory reviews from television critics and has been cited by many as one of the best in the series. Noel Murray of "The A.V. Club" awarded the episode an "A" describing it as being "intense and terrifying". Seth Amitin of "IGN" awarded the episode 9 out of 10 praising Bryan Cranston's performance calling it "an amazing piece of acting" and further described the episode as "shocking and eye-brow-raising and fascinating". Hutchinson praised the final shot and the storylines leading up to it, calling it "Breaking Bad"s "most  underrated moment" and "a perfect bit of mise en scene". In 2019, The Ringer ranked "Crawl Space" as the 9th best out of the 62 total "Breaking Bad" episodes.