Struck down by Covid recently I needed to find something to pass the time while stuck in bed, and after flicking through what was available I settled in to binge The Horror of Dolores Roach,
and binge I did.
This off-Broadway show turned podcast turned TV show is produced by Amazon Studio and Blumhouse Television, and you know anything that Blumhouse puts out will find an audience with me!
This was perfect covid viewing. Bite-sized (see what we did there) 30-minute episodes non-taxing, dark, funny and easily digestible (I promise I’ll stop now) – just what the doctor ordered.
As the show starts we are introduced to Dolores, a tough New Yorker sent to prison for a crime she sort of didn’t commit.
She exits the pen after 16 years to an unfamiliar world and on returning to her safe haven of Washington Heights she finds it has all changed and the streets are now full of coffee shops and Scandinavian furniture stores, fortunately, there is a shining light amongst the shinier lights, Empanada Loca.
Dolores is taken in by Luis, who has been running his late father’s empanada shop into the ground, and she sets to work as a masseuse in the basement flat.
At first, she is meek, confused and scared. her first kills are ones of self-preservation and we see her regret and panic over what has happened and her sheer disgust at Luis’ dark appetite but as the series progresses we see her darker side when she is called mean she loses self-control and has a Hulk-like “You won’t like me when I’m angry” moment.
The cast is fantastic, Cyndi Lauper plays Ruthie a hilarious ‘finder’ a ruthless underworld detective. Marc Maron is great as sleazy landlord Gideon Pearlman and Judy Reyes pops up as Marcie, a tough and business-savvy drug dealer but K. Todd Freeman stole the show for me as Jeremiah a friendly and eccentric butcher.
If you are a fan of shows like Santa Clarita Diet, or just like your drama with a little bit of killing on the side, then The Horror of Dolores Roach could be your next watch. I’m not sure who was asking for a modern-day Sweeney Todd but it turned out I wanted it and devoured (Ok, maybe just one more) the series in one sitting.
4/5
