Devil’s Diner – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

ANGER: Snake Wine

Episode 3 of Devil’s Diner begins with a father-son duo, where the son, Minh, is set to receive an award from his school. Secretly, he takes a picture of himself with his blacksmith father at work using his Polaroid camera—a gift from his loving father.

However, Minh soon dies after jumping from a higher floor of his school building. Grief-stricken, his father asks the school for evidence of his son’s suicide but receives nothing in return. As he leaves the school, another student—being chased by a group of boys—tells him to ask Tu if he wants answers about Minh’s death.

Back home, the man gathers all of Minh’s Polaroid pictures and retraces his steps, eventually coming across the Devil’s Diner. There, the bartender tries to feed his anger over his son’s unjust death.

The man returns to the school, demanding answers, but is thrown out. Enraged, he finds himself back at the diner, where the bartender takes a picture of his hand and pricks the image. Immediately, the man’s palm begins to bleed in the exact spot where the picture had been pierced. The bartender reveals that this is the way to seek justice for Minh’s death. However, unwilling to kill anyone, the man leaves.

He confronts Tu, but Tu’s father intervenes, threatening to kill the man. Enraged, the man returns to the diner and, this time, eats the snake dish prepared by the bartender—fully intending to get justice for Minh. The bartender warns him that any soul he takes through the camera will belong to him.

Using Minh’s photographs labeled “love,” he follows Tu to a water tank. When Tu refuses to talk, the man takes his photograph and tortures him. Eventually, Tu confesses that he and Minh were actually in love. For six months, Tu had kept their relationship a secret out of fear—his father would have killed him if he had found out. On the day of Minh’s death, Tu’s friends had beaten Minh, leaving him terrified.

Later, consumed by heartbreak, Minh jumped from the upper floor of the building to his death.
As Minh’s father leaves, Tu, overwhelmed by guilt and grief, snaps his own neck using a Polaroid photograph of himself.

The man returns to the diner, begging the bartender to revive Tu, but the bartender refuses. Enraged once more, he takes a picture of the bartender and stabs it with a knife. However, since the bartender is not a living being, the image reflects in the mirror behind him—causing the man to unwittingly take a picture of himself. As a result, he ends up killing himself.

The episode ends with the bartender pulling out a photograph of someone he seems to recognize.


The Episode Review

This episode is the best yet! It explores the sin of anger, and we clearly see how it ultimately leads to Minh’s father’s death. “It’s karma,” the bartender remarks after the man unknowingly seals his own fate. Throughout the episode, various instances of Buddhist teachings are woven into the narrative.

The episode also sparks thought-provoking discussions about justice—whether it is merely a civilized form of vengeance or if true justice is, in fact, forgiveness. These themes seamlessly blend Vietnamese culture with the show’s horror elements, making each chapter more than just entertainment.

Additionally, the bartender’s character becomes even more intriguing. It appears he is bound by some unseen force, compelled to carry out the devil’s sinister deeds behind closed doors.

Interestingly, he remains an ambiguous figure—both a spokesperson for the devil and a commentator on the story, offering insight into its deeper themes. There’s clearly more to his story than we know, and perhaps future episodes will finally reveal the truth behind his character!

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