6. The Crawl Space
To set the scene of Episode 11 in Season 4 - Ted Beneke is being done for fraud, so Skyler (being the utter legend she is) gives him Walt's had earned cash. Now, as his money is being frittered away by a man who has had an affair with his wife, it's natural for Walt to be a little aggravated One of the few times in the later series that we can genuinely sympathize with him. Sympathize yes. Do anything less than sit, open-mouthed watching his reaction? No. When Skyler breaks the news, Walt lies on his back in the crawl space under the house, bundles of cash in each hand and dust covering his glasses. He screams, the most brutal, chilling of screams and begins to sob. Effortlessly on Cranston's part, these sobs turn into laughs of chilling hysteria and as Skyler backs away, every bit as shocked as the audience, we come to understand a little clearer, the dark place that Walt now finds himself in. The camera zooms out slowly, lingering on Walt still laughing in the dirt. Out of the crawl space, rising still, until we can only see the upper half of Walt through a little square hole in the Boiler Room floor. The metaphor is clear. We're looking into Walt's grave.