How Better Connection Saul re-created a “Too Bad” RV and more

brake alert: Don’t read if you haven’t watched Better Call Saul Season 6 episode 11 called “Breaking Bad.”

When interior designer Ashley Marsh found out that “Better Call Saul” would revive the iconic RV from “Breaking Bad,” she was stunned. Fortunately, the original “Krystal Ship” has been kept safely stored in the Sony area. There was only one problem: the RV was “completely smashed on the inside”.

Now, Breaking Bad has long used two “RVs” — one fully functional for exterior shots and driving shots, and a separate sound stage for filming the interior. To recreate the set of “Better Call Saul,” Marsh religiously re-watched Breaking Bad and took “8000 screenshots.” With meticulous attention to detail, the team had to replace every beaker, methylamine tub, round-bottom flask, and more. Everything we see inside an RV on “Better Call Saul” was new.

“We had to go back and buy everything,” says Marsh. diverse. “We literally stared at the pictures until we figured out what those items were.”

To make sure the interior of his RV looked exactly as it did in “Breaking Bad,” Marsh then set out to research a 1986 Pounder—the same model used for exterior picks—to assemble the seats, lights, mini-fridge door, and window coverings. Her search ended with Frank Sandoval, who runs the tour company Breaking Bad RV in Albuquerque. (He also appeared on Season 5 of “Breaking Bad” as an add-on.) After signing a “non-disclosure agreement,” Sandoval was happy to loan out some parts of the Bounder—which transports tourists throughout Albuquerque to fan-favorite “Breaking Bad” locations— For the Better Call Saul team.

According to Marsh, Sandoval was the only person found who had the same window coverings shown in “Breaking Bad.” While the average TV viewer would never notice such a minor discrepancy, Marsh says series co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have stressed that fans will “cut together along with” the flashback scenes from “Better Call Saul” with the original scenes from Breaking Bad. “We had to be very aware of how much this needed to be true,” she says.

What was exciting for Marsh is that this episode of “Better Call Saul” shows the interior of an RV in a way never seen before in “Breaking Bad”: in motion, as Walt and Jesse prepare to go somewhere. This allowed the interior designers, along with Gilligan and writer and director Thomas Schnauz, to imagine how this meth-cooking duo might pack their gear for travel. When filming the interior in action, the special effects team installed airbags under the set to make the RV Rock go back and forth, to simulate driving through the desert.

To recreate the “Breaking Bad” scene in which Walt and Jesse Saul (Bob Odenkirk) are held at gunpoint in front of a shallow grave, the “Better Call Saul” construction team dug a grave behind the studios in desert-like terrain, while the Greens crew brought dirt.

Working on 2019’s “Saul” and “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” Marsh has had her fair share of decorating challenges. When “Breaking Bad” was introduced by Ed the Disappearer (Robert Forster), who runs the witness protection program for a Best Quality vacuum cleaner shop, the site was a real-life vacuum shop, which required very little change. When they returned for “El Camino,” it has since been completely converted into a furniture store. So, Marsh and ornament buyer Rachel Srigley were tasked with turning it back into Best Quality Vacuum, a process that took three months.

“Rachel has been researching vacuum cleaners to find the exact same models, and the exact same colors,” says Marsh. “We cleaned every vacuum shop in town for all of its parts—anything that was close by, just to get up to scale.”

However, Marsh says the hardest job she’s done on Gilligan’s hair was decorating a department store at “Better Call Saul” last week that focuses on genes. In the episode, Jane orchestrates an elaborate heist of Armani, Air Jordan suits and taxi driver Jeffy’s (Pat Healy) linen shirts, while distracting mall security guards with freshly baked Cinnabon.

“It was an empty Sears, there was literally nothing inside. No rack, no pegs, not a single thing to hang anything on,” says Marsh.

The team had to import tons of sofas, shelves, fixtures and lamps as well as “load trucks” full of clothes. Meanwhile, Gene’s rhyming instructions for Jiffy (“One, Armani Suit and Run! Two, Air Jordan shoes for you!” etc.) served as a guide to store design.

This wasn’t the first time Marsh had to build a shop from scratch. In fact, between seasons 4 and 5 of “Better Call Saul,” Gene’s Cinnabon stops working in Omaha (which was filmed at Albuquerque’s Cottonwood Mall). Fortunately, the production team was able to purchase much of what was left—tables, chairs, coke machines, and a gigantic cake mixer—but Marsh says they nonetheless “had to painstakingly go back and reverse-engineer what was missing and put everything back together.” Together with Cinnabon, they were also able to obtain the specialized oven, dough sheeter and laminators.

“I’m a nerd,” Marsh admits. “Part of the reason I really love to go back and recreate collections is that you can really dive in and get excited about things that most people would find boring. It’s like playing the big iSpy game, but on a professional level.”