Devil’s Diner – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

KARMA: Moon-faced Snails

Episode 6 of Devil’s Diner begins with an introduction to the Wheel of Life, where, according to Buddhist folklore, humans are kept from attaining nirvana due to five sins: anger, greed, pride, delusion, and suspicion. However, the most severe sin, which guarantees a direct passage to hell, is killing one’s parents or children. The bartender then confesses that he has committed both.

We learn that the man’s father was a sculptor who had been crafting the diner’s door for a very long time. It is also revealed that the man’s father owed a debt to the diner’s then-owner. The father falls ill around the time of the man’s marriage. Burdened by debts, the man decides to approach the diner’s owner to request payment for the door his father had been working on for years.

It is here that he uncovers the truth: his father had made a deal with the diner’s owner. In exchange for the skills of a talented sculptor to provide for his family, he had agreed to kill the diner’s owner, allowing the owner to leave the diner. However, his father ultimately refused to fulfil his promise, and the wooden door had been one of his attempts to repay his debt.

Now, the diner owner offers another deal: if the man kills his father, his father’s soul will be reborn as his son. Hesitant at first, the man makes his choice when doctors inform him of his wife’s complicated pregnancy, where either the mother or the child is bound to die. The man kills his father, and his son is born healthy, with his wife surviving.

Over the years, he notices similarities between his son and his father until, one day, his son claims to hear his grandfather’s voice in his head before falling unconscious. The man returns to the diner, accusing the owner of tricking him. The owner demands repayment of the debt by provoking the man to kill him. The moment the owner dies, the man becomes trapped in the diner as its new owner.

The scene shifts to the present, where we learn that Tuan’s mother survived having her tongue cut out. After Tuan’s death, she spent days in rehabilitation, haunted by how Tuan had mentioned the diner owner who had tricked him. Upon her return, she locates the diner using Tuan’s text messages to his ex-fiancée.

At the diner, she asks for the owner’s help. The owner senses she is a special guest and explains that forgiveness is the key to ending both their miseries, their path to nirvana, and the salvation of their souls. The woman eats the bitter melon leaves he prepared, only to reveal that she has not come seeking forgiveness but revenge. She wishes for the bartender to die as the people he had killed. The bartender dies in various gruesome ways, his final words being, “Your karma has come.” The woman then becomes trapped in the diner, with a new set of bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

The Episode Review

The finale fascinatingly brings together all the sins represented in earlier episodes, tying them to the notion of karma and embodying the Wheel of Life in Buddhist folklore. There is an intriguing cyclical pattern present throughout the series, including the finale, which reflects the cyclical nature of existence and the karmic cycle.

This connects the five sins, highlighting why human beings are unable to achieve nirvana. For instance, if either the bartender or Tuan’s mother had embraced forgiveness, they might have ended the dreaded cycle of life that imprisons them to the diner. Overall, this is a fitting finale that wraps up the exploration of sins in each chapter, presenting a compelling moral conclusion.