The Horror of Dolores Roach

THODR isn’t flawless, but it is a perfectly entertaining endeavor that allows Machado to run wild. And that alone makes it worthwhile.

The series clearly has fun playing with that line, putting normality and extremity in conversation and asking the audience to root both for and against its leads. A playful show about a serial killer, "The Horror of Dolores Roach" gets its frights by not taking itself too seriously.

It’s simply entertaining to watch Dolores scramble to stay one step ahead of ruin, or slowly embrace the rage threatening to eat her alive from the inside — and for the most part, that’s enough. Think of her story not as a lavish five-course meal to be savored, but a sizzling fast-food snack: a treat best inhaled by the fistful, over the course of some lazy afternoon.

Even if the show can feel rushed, it's a winsome treat in a summer that isn't brimming with breakout hits.

The show makes perfectly bite-sized digs at bureaucratic establishments that are far more filling than empty wisdom. There’s no one better than Machado to make those points.

The initial framing device doesn’t always land the way it’s intended to, either, but if you can ignore a little in the way of repetition then there’s still more than enough to sink your teeth into.

That The Horror of Dolores Roach manages to be just cheeky enough to overcome its many flaws is a testament to Machado’s presence — she helps to turn a television meal that doesn’t always go down as easy as one would hope into one that has a bit more meat on its bones.

The series is a worthy, likeable effort from cast and crew to make a smaller show break into a crowded, saturated streaming market, but it’s hard not to feel frustrated when everything good about it is a couple hairs away from being great. Dolores Roach makes for a quick bite when it should have been a full meal.

Even in short, half-hour-ish bursts, the relentless archness and escalations start to chafe, but Machado is great (“I don’t wanna be a serial killer”), and there’s a winning trippy brio to it all.

Machado is excellent as the ferocious Dolores but the show is aimless and predictable with no big twist at the end.

While the televised take on Dolores Roach — anglicized from “Rocha” — gets a boost from Justina Machado, who brings the same warm charisma to a serial killer she did to a single mom in “One Day at a Time,” the show is too timid to embrace the extremity of its premise. Advertised as a horror comedy, “The Horror of Dolores Roach” effectively earns neither scares nor laughs.

If only The Horror of Dolores Roach possessed enough magic to shape its mix of dark comedy and horror into something that felt wholly worthy of the commitment, instead of cooking up a show that falls short of the killer concept that it could have been.

Even in eight, half-hour parts, the first season is stretched thin. The tone is all over the map, along with character motivations and plot logistics.