'Breaking Bad' Season 4, Episode 11 Recap - 'Crawl Space'

Sometimes "Breaking Bad" delivers you an episode that is so breathtaking, in every aspect, that it leaves you speechless. "Crawl Space" blew even those episodes away. It is finally clear why the past two seasons have been a slow-play, long-term storytelling approach: it's so Vince Gilligan and his writers could punch us in the gut with the final few minutes of this episode.

I'm tempted, in lieu of a recap, to just say "holy s**t" and leave it at that, but we have to talk about this episode, don't we? I mean...holy s**t.

Things start off with Jesse bringing Mike and Gus to a very nicely sterilized tent in the seediest-looking abandoned warehouse. You have to appreciate the juxtaposition of the cleanliness and order in the midst of a barbaric setting...it's a perfect metaphor for Gus. As Jesse says when he pulls a packet of blood for Mike out from the fridge (which also has a shelf for him) and hears the doctor recite Jesse's entire medical history, "He really thought of everything."

But there's a change in Gus in this episode. For the past few weeks, ever since the flashback in "Hermanos," Gus has become more and more likable in our eyes...but in "Crawl Space," we're reminded who he is. He's cold. He's calculating. And when he wants to be, he can he vengeful and heartless. When Jesse tries to bargain for Walt's life, Gus responds with a "you know that' won't work." He can even act cold toward Mike, who is left to recover in the tent, all because Gus needs to get back and make a visit to Hector.

On that note, props must be given to Mark Margolis, who does an incredible job as Hector. It can't be easy, portraying that level and range of emotions with the constraint of being a character confined to a chair, unable to speak. The look that he gives Jesse (who has by this point more or less wiped out his entire family) is stirring and frightening.

By all means, it seems as though "Crawl Space" would be just like any other episode of late: slow-played, perhaps with a burst at the end. But, there are hints that there's more at stake. The scene with Walt and Hank at the stakeout at the chicken factory has Hank saying to Walt, with more meaning than he knows, "If you're in over your head on something, don't you think I'd be the guy to come to?"

If only he know how in over his head Walt is. The rest of his problems aside, he doesn't even know yet about Skyler still dealing with Ted, who now refuses to take her money...with the implication that he might want even more. When he refuses, we get a surprisingly light scene with the as-of-yet very quiet Huell, joined by the very funny Bill Burr, who strong-arm Ted into writing the check. Problem is, they strong-arm him a little too hard, and he gets scared and runs head-first into a cabinet. Should I be laughing at the either paralyzed or dead Beneke? No. But I do anyway.

As Walt pulled past Victor II's car (okay, I found out his name is Tyrus. But I might still go with Victor II) and into Hank's driveway, I thought to myself "Gee, for such a good detective, Hank is pretty bad at noticing when he's being watched." But Hank promptly shuts me up by revealing his new hunch: this suspicious-looking industrial laundry that he wants to check out. Say it with me now: oh f**k. Walt gives us one more moment of "improvisation," in which he purposefully turns into traffic.

And from there, "Crawl Space" crescendos (or does it accelerando?) into a frenzy as Walt confronts Jesse about cooking without him, and finally comes back down to earth: he's not the one who knocks, he's not in control, and he's about to die. It only gets worse when he's dragged out to the desert (how much did you love the shot with the camera under the shroud, and the blinding light as it's removed? I mean, come on) and confronted by Gus, who tells him he's "done...fired," and told to stay away from Jesse and not interfere as he remedies the Hank situation. And Walt, in the traditional "what the hell are you thinking?" fashion we've come to expect, responds with a challenge of "or else you'll do what?"

Oh, Walt. "I will kill your wife. I will kill your son. I will kill your infant daughter," Gus replies.

Remember just one episode ago when we were really starting to like him?

For a moment I thought the episode might end there, with Walt lying bruised and defeated in the dust. And if this were any ordinary episode of "Breaking Bad," it might have. But instead the pacing becomes even more frenzied as Walt bursts into Saul's office and demands the service of the guy who can make him and his family disappear. Saul, who is at this point perhaps the most reasonable character on this show, also agrees to put in an anonymous tip to the DEA to protect Hank, whom Gus will be pursuing.

And so we're left with the haunting image of Walt, literally boxed in in the frame as the camera slowly lifts. These final minutes are a reminder of what we have in Bryan Cranston: a lead that can wait in the background for the right moment, then blow us all away with a performance like the one he gives in that crawl space.

Where will we go from here? Will Walt find another way to disappear? Will Gus follow through on his promise? Will Skyler let slip to Hank and Marie why this is all happening? Probably not the last one, but at this point it's hard to say where Gilligan et al will go.

From the beginning, "Breaking Bad" has been about the choices we make and the inevitable consequences of them. For now, it looks like Walt's choices have finally come back to bite him.