The Horror of Dolores Roach review: Justina Machado ate, left no crumbs in dark cannibal comedy
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Somewhere between the psychosis of Sweeney Todd and the ravenous desperation of the Yellowjackets soccer team lies Dolores Roach. Down on her luck in New York City, Dolores (played with delicious ferocity by Justina Machado) just wants a normal life. But life — and Dolores' violent resentment of the forces that keep her down — keeps getting in the way. Based on the play and scripted podcast by Aaron Mark, The Horror of Dolores Roach is a gripping and gruesome good time.
Sixteen years after going to prison for her drug-dealer boyfriend's crimes, Dolores Roach heads back to her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Washington Heights with $200 in her pocket and no idea what she's going to do. Her cellmate (Maureen Cassidy) taught her how give a great massage (among other survival skills), but who's going to hire an unlicensed felon with no professional experience? At least Empanada Loca, her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, is still hanging on. The owner, a charismatic, eccentric stoner named Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), still carries a torch for Dolores from back in the day, so he invites her to crash with him and set up shop as a masseuse in his basement apartment.
Jasper Savage/Prime Video Alejandro Hernandez and Justina Machado on 'The Horror of Dolores Roach'
But every momentary relief is followed by an even bigger setback — in part because Luis continues to wage a contentious battle with his sleazy landlord, Mr. Pearlman (Marc Maron), over back rent. Dolores' efforts to mediate go awry, leaving her with blood on her hands and the landlord's corpse on her massage table. One panic nap later, she awakens to find the body gone, and the empanada shop full of customers who can't get enough of Luis' "exclusive" new recipe. "Now, that greedy son of a bitch will get chewed up, shat out, and flushed down the toilet like the excrement he is," murmurs Luis, whose level of chill about the whole situation is, in a word, chilling.
What starts as an act of desperation becomes Dolores' very messy outlet for the sea of rage, grief, and regret roiling inside of her. Initially, The Horror of Dolores Roach wrings frequent shock laughs out of the revolting conceit — lots of lingering closeups on slabs of raw meat as it's tenderized, or customers' mouths as they savor Luis' latest creation — and Machado instills Delores with a hilariously manic energy as she tries to convince herself that Mr. Pearlman was a one-off.
But every time someone gets on her table, lulled by her "magic hands" into revealing a bit too much of their inner monologue, that dangerous anger bubbles in Dolores' gut. When will the universe give her a minute to relax? As the bodies pile up and the story grows persistently darker, Machado allows Dolores to tap ever deeper into the impotent fury of someone who longs for peace, but all she ever gets is war. Hernandez brings an unsettling sexiness to Luis, a cannibalistic cannabis connoisseur and self-proclaimed "misunderstood culinary visionary" whose devotion to Dolores is rivaled only by his disdain for the influx of gentrifiers threatening his family business in Washington Heights.
Jasper Savage/Prime Video Marc Maron and Alejandro Hernandez on 'The Horror of Dolores Roach'
"I don't want to be a serial killer!" wails Dolores, right before committing her third murder. Even with all the humor, creator Aaron Mark is careful not to elevate his protagonist to the level of vigilante hero. She is a woman besieged by trying circumstances, but also one who never quite takes responsibility for the awful crimes she just keeps committing. Soon, people come looking for Dolores and Luis' victims — including Mr. Pearlman's son, Jonah (Ilan Eskenazi), and a theater-obsessed P.I. named Ruthie (Cyndi Lauper) — and the dastardly duo finds every avenue to escape blocked. The series gets darker and more grotesque as the season progresses, and our uncomfortable laughter eventually fades into a grimace of repugnance.
Most of Dolores Roach's season plays out as a classic race against time, and the eight half-hour episodes are lean and taut. It's the type of narrative you can only stretch for so long before the tension loses its snap, so it was a little disappointing to see the finale end on a cliffhanger. One season of Dolores' tale makes for a satisfying meal, and I fear a second helping might turn out to be empty calories. But maybe a little overindulgence is warranted when the recipe is so tasty. Grade: B+
All episodes of The Horror of Dolores Roach are streaming now on Prime Video.
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