Justina Machado said that she would “die” for her mother’s empanadas.
But her new character, Dolores Roach, would kill for them.
“My mom has been making them since I was a little girl, we call them pastelillos,” the Puerto Rican actor said of the sweet or savory pastries.
Machado’s delicious empanadas de juventud take a cannibalistic, terror-filled turn in the new Amazon Prime Black Comedy Series “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” which begins airing on Friday.
Based on Aaron Mark’s macabre podcast of the same name and solo play “Empanada Loca,” Machado stars as Dolores, a New York Puerto Rican (also known as a Nuyorican) who has just served an unjust 16-year prison sentence for possession of marijuana
He finds a place to stay with his friend Luis (played by Alejandro Hernández), the owner of Empanada Loca, a restaurant in the predominantly Latino area of Washington Heights in New York City. It’s the only pre-incarceration business that Dolores acknowledges remains of her now-gentrifying neighborhood.
Dolores’ first step toward feeling human again after her long prison term was to order a guava and cheese empanada, a meal that served as a memory key that unlocked all the parts of herself she had hidden for as long as she was. was out. After that ceremonial meal, Dolores is back and ready to reinvent herself in her old neighborhood. But instead, this event will lead her into a downward spiral.
Those of you familiar with “Sweeney Todd,” the spooky musical that Mark was inspired by, know that pies won’t be what they seem. They will also know that Dolores will become a very skilled and chilling psychopath along the way.
Dolores, who learned to be a massage therapist behind bars, tries to hide her struggle to acclimate to life after prison through her work ethic. With $200 to her name and no family or job prospects due to her criminal record, she constantly fights for a calm, stable and peaceful life and, with Luis’s encouragement, she opens a massage parlor below Crazy Pie.
The lengths to which Dolores will go to earn a living underscore the burden of responsibility that often falls on ex-incarcerators as they try to rebuild their lives and find re-entry programs. Dolores still needs background checks to get a job if she wants to work for someone else, secure housing and get a higher education, and without the right support, she will be unable to navigate the system.
Machado said she connected with the program’s description of life after prison for women of color like her and the racial disparities behind the arrests.
“I’m from inner-city Chicago. He was around me constantly, every day,” she said. “I don’t come from the middle class; I come from the working class. I was first generation in the United States, and that was it. I didn’t know any different.”
On the show, though he means well, Luis becomes a liability through his impromptu plan to get fresh meat for the empanadas. Dolores wants to continue working as a massage therapist and eventually return to college. Still, she must play both sides, to ensure that Luis’s plan and his tendency to make decisions she may have only half thought of don’t jeopardize her new life.
The Prime Video series follows Dolores, people from her past life, and the gentrifying millennials now residing in her old neighborhood as their lives intersect on the street, her makeshift massage parlor, and at Empanada Loca. For Dolores, much of that time is spent trying to define herself in relation to them or in contrast to them.
For Machado, a longtime collaborator of Gloria Calderón Kellett, the show’s Latino executive producer, Dolores’ combined anger and disappointment were part of why she was drawn to the character.
“I had never seen anything like it. He had layers, and it wasn’t about being cute or adorable. It was just about playing this great character who has to be protected and relatable at the same time. And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s going to be so much fun,’” Machado said.
The show does its best to walk a fine tonal line between horror and comedy to provide social commentary, but relies on Machado’s strength to transport viewers to a gentrifying Washington Heights and critique of the criminal justice system. .
As Dolores, Machado demonstrates her ability to embody a character with nothing but a purple hoodie, a massage table, and a powerful story.
However, the series, to which she has been linked since 2021It turned out to be a unique challenge for Machado, with many significant scenes revolving around doing the unthinkable to support herself and Luis.
“No matter how amazing the role was, it was heavy,” said the veteran actress known for her roles in “Six Feet Under,” “Queen of the South” and the remake of “One Day at a Time,” which was co-created and produced by Calderón Kellett.
“It took me a bit, maybe a month or so after we stopped filming, to get out of that world to feel a little bit normal again,” Machado said. “If you watch the show, something always happens to Dolores. Everything escalates.”
It’s painfully human to focus on the uncomfortable parts for her or for the public, but Dolores’ story must be seen, according to Machado. She hoped she would be insightful to “people who have misunderstood and got the wrong information, and now they know better.”
“It’s always great to shine a light on those things,” he said in the interview with NBC News, referring to the injustices in the prison system, “while telling a really incredible story at the same time. I’m glad to be able to play her.”
As for empanadas, he still loves them, although the flavor he had on the show when he got out of prison isn’t his favorite. “Everyone I know loves guava and cheese, but that’s not my destiny,” he said. For her, make it chicken and cheese.
