Last week Apple TV Plus released the first season of听Little America, an anthology television series that looks at the unexpected lives of immigrants in America. There are eight half-hour episodes in the first season. Episode two, directed by Aurora Guerrero and called “The Jaguar,” is based on Reyna Pacheco.
A member of Access Youth Academy, the urban squash program in San Diego, Pacheco grew up as an undocumented immigrant. She played and then on the pro tour, reaching world No. 70.
The series has received tremendous coverage across the world, with the squash episode receiving attention in , the and on Scott Simon鈥檚 鈥淲eekend Edition鈥 on . Richard Roeper in the听听said that the episode “is highlighted by a powerful and lovely performance by Jearnest Corchado as Marisol, a whip-smart but hard-edged and troublesome teenage daughter of an undocumented Mexican housekeeper.” Roeper concluded: “As is the case with every episode, ‘The Jaguar’ has an epilogue with images of the true-life people who inspired the story, and updates on their lives. The continuation of Marisol’s journey is so uplifting and triumphant, there’s enough material to fit the classic sports-movie formula. It’s the听Rocky听of squash.”
鈥溾橳he Jaguar,鈥 in particular, would one million percent be a smash Sundance sensation if developed into a feature,鈥 wrote Gregory Lawrence in . 鈥淚t鈥檚 an underdog sports story with a fierce, star-making lead performance (Jearnest Corchado), a delightfully eccentric supporting performance (John Ortiz as an unpredictable coach), a warmly non-confrontational political subtext (Corchado and her family are undocumented immigrants) and exhilarating action (who knew squash could be so cinematic).鈥
You can watch the episode .
In March 2020 a book听Little America: Incredible True Stories of Immigrants in America听will be published. These are the original stories, including Pacheco鈥檚, that ran in听Epic Magazine听and upon which the television series is based.
