‘The Horrors of Dolores Roach’ Ending Explained: Does Dolores Kill Luis?

Sometimes it’s fun having two men fight over you – unless they both wind up dead. Prime Video’s new creepy dramedy The Horror of Dolores Roach is based on Aaron Mark’s Spotify podcast and one-woman play. Shamelessly inspired by the popular musical Sweeney Todd, the show features Justina Machado as the eponymous character who happens to be the center of attention of many New Yorkers.

Fresh out of prison, Dolores returns to her home in Washington Heights and is not happy with the effect that gentrification has had on her neighborhood. She can no longer afford housing and is struggling to get hired with her criminal record. Dolores is also on the hunt for her former lover Dominic (Anthony Grant) after he abandoned her once she took the fall for his drug bust.

Over the course of eight episodes, Dolores reunites with an old friend Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), and is invited to live in the basement underneath his empanada shop. There, she begins to offer massages for $20 to customers, but things go wrong after the ex-convict is propositioned for a “happy ending” by her greedy landlord.

Dolores ends up killing the older man and begins to devise a plan to get rid of his body. While she’s purchasing equipment at a local shop, Luis chops up the body and bakes them into his empanadas – which end up being a massive hit among customers. More and more citizens wind up dead and others in the community become concerned, including Dolores’s friend Jeremiah (K. Todd Freeman), who is also Luis’s meat salesman. He grows suspicious once he notices that Luis has stopped purchasing meat and puts two-and-two together. Dolores buys them time by lying and saying that Luis is coercing her to do the killings. The situation escalates and suddenly both men are fighting for her safety.

With human flesh in demand and blood on her hands, Dolores is at a crossroads: Does she continue to murder people even though she is desperate for a clean start? How does she maintain her innocence in front of everybody else? Continue reading for everything you need to know about the twisty ending of The Horror of Dolores Roach. 

The Horror of Dolores Roach Ending Explained:

The final moments of The Horror of Dolores Roach are a bloodbath and circle back to when we first met the titular character, which is backstage at a Broadway production of a play based on her life. She hides in the dressing room of the actor portraying her and makes her presence known once they are alone. Dolores tells the actor that she won’t hurt her, but she will tell her secrets that she will never be able to forget. Her story transforms into the timeline that the debut season follows. 

At the start of the final episode, Dolores and Luis find themselves disagreeing on their escape plan following their murder of the landlord’s son Jonah (Ilan Eskenazi). Previously, the two planned on selling the restaurant to Jonah and using their new wealth to get far away from Washington Heights. They are also dealing with newfound police interest in the disappearance of the landlord and others in the area, all of which lead back to the empanada shop. 

The son had begun a relationship with Nellie (Kita Updike), the cashier at the restaurant, and she begins snooping for clues about his disappearance. Nellie finds Jonah’s phone in the kitchen, despite Luis and Dolores claiming that he never met up with them. Meanwhile, Dolores is rushing around to resolve the situation while packing her belongings. She is interrupted by a local friend Joy (Jean Yoon) who is begging for a massage. Dolores asks her to stop complaining and agrees to give her a brief massage but as Joy continues to run her mouth, Dolores silences her by killing her. “I liked Joy but she was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the killer narrates. 

Dolores runs upstairs and overhears Nellie chatting with a few customers about the previous disappearance of a private investigator Ruthie (Cyndi Lauper), who was murdered earlier in the season. Dolores grabs Nellie and asks her to stop gossiping with others. Among the group is their upstairs neighbor and local podcaster Caleb (Jeffery Self). After getting Nellie to calm down, Dolores begins to worry about Luis but decides that he’s too unpredictable and insists that she will leave with or without him. As he tries to get rid of Joy’s body, Dolores spots Nellie being arrested by the cops and Luis enters the room saying “That went down better than I thought,” indicating that he framed Nellie for the murders. Dolores feels betrayed and explains to Luis that Nellie will never get out of prison after he insinuates that she’s young, so she could make something of her life when she’s out. Dolores explains that he has made the situation worse because now the police are going to search the restaurant. 

The two argue and Dolores blames Luis for not stopping her from committing the murders. “I could’ve really been happy here with you. Me doing my massages and you doing your thing upstairs,” she tells him. “I just wanted to have a normal, simple life.” They are interrupted by Jeremiah who confronts Luis about the murders. He wildly searches the apartment while yelling “Where the bodies at?” The two fight and Luis grabs him and slams him against the bathroom wall, resulting in him hitting his head on the towel rack and falling into the bathtub on top of Joy’s body. Jeremiah is presumably dead. Dolores starts to escape but Luis chases her through the restaurant. They end up in the kitchen where he grabs her. Thinking fast, she seduces him by kissing him.

While embracing, Dolores guides Luis to the frying equipment and dunks his head into the hot oil. His face begins to melt and her hand is burnt; the hot liquid splashes everywhere and the kitchen begins to go up in flames. Dolores escapes and jumps into Jeremiah’s truck. The scene bleeds into the present moment where she’s telling her story to the actor. 

Dolores reveals that she spent the last four years on the run and has been on the search for Dominic. The actor says that everybody thought she was dead and calls her a “victim of circumstance.” Dolores corrects her and says that she didn’t have to commit the crimes. The scene jumps to the opening night celebration for the play and reveals the playwright to be the upstairs podcaster Caleb. Dolores tracks him down and begins to choke him, but Caleb stops her by muttering “Dominic.” She lets him go after he says that he knows someone who knows where her former lover is. The playwright guides Dolores to a house and when she asks “Who’s house is this?” He encourages her to just knock on the door. She threatens him and tells him to stay in the car or else she’ll kill him.

Dolores approaches the house and rings the doorbell. When the door is answered she begins to laugh maniacally until she suddenly stops and launches at the other person with her hands in a choking position. The scene cuts and the person on the other side of the door is never revealed. 

So, Who Dies in The Horror of Dolores Roach Season 1? 

The kill count for the eventful first season is quite high, especially after the deadly finale which resulted in three people being murdered. In addition to Joy, Jeremiah, and Luis, Dolores kills several other people starting with the landlord Gideon Pearlman (Marc Maron). She continues to later murder drug dealer Marcie (Judy Reyes), Ruthie and Jonah throughout the season. 

My, my, my, the show better have some new characters up its sleeve if it gets renewed. At this rate, there’s going to be nobody left for Dolores to slaughter.