Heartwarming / The Menu

• Despicable as the Finance Bros are, they at least have the decency to try and beg Julian not to kill their boss, Doug Verrick. One of them even tries to go outside, but is prevented by the staff.
• It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but after Margot punches Tyler for knowingly bringing her to a Death Trap, the staff member that has to physically pull her off him briefly puts a comforting hand on her shoulder after she calms down. At that moment, it's made clear that everyone is in Margot's corner. Even Slowik states Tyler can hardly blame her.
• After Slowik humiliates Tyler, in the background, you can see the Sommelier—who personally saw Tyler's behavior up close—looking at Margot with a sympathetic expression and subtly nodding in agreement that, yes, she was "free too".
• Even though their relationship is not the greatest, both Anne and Richard still care about each other enough for Anne to beg Julian to let her husband get to a hospital and Richard to brush it off and ask him to let his wife go instead.
• Near the end, George and Felicity admit how they've wronged each other, George giving her a negative recommendation to her new job and Felicity stealing from him. Yet both offer a very casual and accepting, "I know" as they make peace with one another. George also asks Chef Slowik why Felicity, in addition to himself, is going to die, showing that, as terribly as he treats her, he isn't completely self-absorbed.
• Slowik has been shown to be abrasive and cruel to practically every guest this evening. What breaks his icy façade? Margot asks him for a cheeseburger, transporting him back to a time when cooking genuinely made him happy — as a nobody line-cook at a burger joint. This simple request is enough to make him break into tears as he pours his heart and soul into the last dish he will ever cook. He's so moved that he packs the meal "to go" at Margot's request (with a side of fries) and lets her leave with it, charging her only $9.95 instead of the $1,250 tab everyone else has to pay.
• After ripping Slowik's pretentious and joyless cooking to shreds, Margot eagerly takes a big bite into the cheeseburger he makes her... and contentedly says, "Now, that's a cheeseburger." Slowik agrees with her, and the two share a brief, but genuine smile. It's the only time in the film Margot actually enjoys the food, and the only time Slowik seems to feel truly appreciated.
• Anne quietly urging Margot to take her chance and leave towards the end.
• Julian's treatment of Margot throughout the film. He sees her as a kindred spirit; a younger version of himself that used to enjoy their profession but has become deeply unhappy. Unlike him, who has completely given up, he sees in her someone who still has a chance to find the joy in her life again and wants to live. He challenges her, and ultimately he gives her that chance. The film ends with her sitting on the boat, eating that fateful cheeseburger in reflection.
  • The first time he has a one-on-one interaction with her, he asserts that she should not be there — at first glance, simple snobbery. On second? A veiled assertion that he will not kill an innocent.

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