Crawl Space (Breaking Bad)

"Crawl Space"
Breaking Bad episode
Walter cackles maniacally in the crawl space underneath his home.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 11
Directed by	Scott Winant
Written by	George Mastras Sam Catlin
Cinematography by	Michael Slovis
Editing by	Skip Macdonald
Original air date	September 25, 2011 (2011-09-25)
Running time	47 minutes
Guest appearances
Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca Christopher Cousins as Ted Beneke Emily Rios as Andrea Cantillo Bill Burr as Patrick Kuby JB Blanc as Barry Goodman Ray Campbell as Tyrus Kitt Lavell Crawford as Huell Babineaux Tina Parker as Francesca Liddy Ian Posada as Brock Cantillo Christopher King as Chris Mara
Episode chronology
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Breaking Bad (season 4)
List of episodes

"Crawl Space" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the American television 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.^[1]

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 tells Hector that all of the cartel's leaders are dead and that the henchman Jesse shot during the escape was Joaquin Salamanca, Hector's grandson, and the last of Hector's relatives; with Joaquin's death, Jesse has wiped out the Salamanca line.

Hank Schrader continues to investigate Gus on his own, while Walter drives him, and decides to inspect the industrial laundry that hides the meth lab. Hoping to stop Hank's investigation, Walter gets into a car crash, injuring himself and Hank. Although he stops asking for Walter's help, Hank remains undeterred and buys a car made for disabled drivers. Meanwhile, Ted Beneke attempts to return Skyler White's money after learning it was hers, which Walter had won by gambling (the cover story that she uses for the meth profits). Ted says the money will only pay off the IRS and not help his business or pay bills, which Skyler views as an attempt to blackmail her for more money. She calls Saul Goodman, who has his bodyguard Huell and con artist Kuby scare Ted into paying the IRS. He does, but slips and hits his head while trying to escape from them, knocking himself out as a result.^[2]

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. Walter is suddenly paralyzed with an electric cattle prod by Tyrus Kitt and brought to the desert where Gus confronts him. Gus fires Walter, warning him to stay away from Jesse. Although he will not kill Walter because of Jesse's loyalty to him, Gus assures Walter that Jesse will prove disloyal and side with him, effectively eliminating the little protection Walter still enjoys. Gus also says that, because Walter failed to stop Hank's investigation, Hank will also be killed; if Walter interferes, Gus will kill Walter's entire family.

Panicked, Walter barges into Saul's office and takes Saul up on an earlier offer to go into hiding. The man who will do it needs $500,000 in cash immediately, which Skyler has stored in a crawl space in the house. Walter also asks Saul to anonymously warn the DEA that Hank is being targeted. Saul initially refuses but agrees if Gus' name is not mentioned. Walter rushes home and is perplexed when there is not enough money; Skyler tells him about the money she gave to Ted. Horrified, Walter screams, suffering a breakdown, 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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".^[5] 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".^[6]

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".^[3] In 2019, The Ringer ranked "Crawl Space" as the 9th best out of the 62 total Breaking Bad episodes.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

• "Crawl Space" at the official Breaking Bad site
• "Crawl Space" at IMDb