Dead Sea Ending, Explained: Does Kaya Die?

‘Dead Sea’ is a thrilling crime film about survival at sea, where a menacing scheme becomes the greatest threat to the protagonist’s life. It follows Kaya, a teenager, who goes off on a jet skiing adventure with her friends. However, when their expedition ends in a fatal accident, it leaves them stranded at sea, isolated and alone. Eventually, a boat comes to their rescue, but as Kaya and her best friend, Tessa, get to know the captain, Rey, they soon realize that the stranger is more dangerous to them than the wild ocean. The film charts an unsettling tale about a young woman’s fierce battle as she’s backed into a dangerous corner. As such, the persisting mystery surrounding Kaya and her friend’s fates keeps the audience’s attention until the end. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Dead Seas Plot Synopsis

Since her mother’s death almost a year ago, Kaya Adams has been looking after her family in the face of her father’s grieving negligence. Between her job and her younger brother, she has her hands full at a young age. Therefore, her best friend, Tessa, convinces her to come out with her for a fun time. After the two meet up with Tessa’s boyfriend, Julian, and his friend, Xander, the teenagers decide to ride out to the nearby Bahamas island on their jet skis. On the island, Kaya and Xander—the boy Tessa is not-so-secretly trying to set her friend up with—get to know each other better as sparks fly between them.

However, things take a turn on their trip back home when Julian’s antics lead his jetski to get overturned. Worse yet, in the chaos that follows, Xander ends up crashing into the other boy, gravelly injuring him. As a result, Kaya and the others find themselves in a fatal predicament. As Julian’s injured body disappears, the two girls hold onto Xander, flowing mindlessly in the sea for hours. Eventually, a boat appears on the horizon, offering them some salvation. The boat and its captain, Rey, haul the teenagers on board, promising to call for help. Nonetheless, Kaya grows suspicious—especially after Tessa goes missing.

Therefore, Kaya ventures down to Rey’s cabin on board, where she soon finds herself chloroformed by the strange man. As Xander is left bleeding out on the deck, the two girls are stowed away on the storage brig on the fishing trawler. Thus, the trio becomes well and truly trapped on the boat with Rey as their captor. Even though Kaya and Tessa are once again reunited, their companionship remains of little consolation. The brig’s condition—with rusted walls, sealed trapdoors, mattresses, and bedposts that have “HELP” scrawled on them—inspires little confidence about the safety of their situation.

Furthermore, Rey refuses to answer any questions and threatens to hurt Kaya and Tessa if they continue causing a fuss. A few hours later, Kaya hears the sound of another boat approaching through the walls. Nonetheless, as the newcomer—an older man—boards the vessel, it becomes evident that he’s no savior. The man is a doctor and an accomplice of Rey’s who’s here to check up on Tessa—and perform other nefarious operations.

Dead Sea Ending: What Does Rey Want With Kaya and Her Friends?

From the get-go, Rey’s intentions toward rescuing Kaya and her friends remain suspicious. The man isn’t nearly as startled at Xander’s injured state, nor is he rushing to provide first-aid of any kind. Furthermore, he retains a calculating disposition the entire time as he promises to call the authorities for help. Therefore, it’s only a matter of time before the other show drops on his fishing trawler. Eventually, Rey’s menacing motives become more evident with the doctor’s arrival. So far, the fisherman has ensured that the three teenagers he found in the sea are truly alone without any hopes of a rescue.

Since Kaya and her friends traveled out to the islands on their jetskis without any boat, the likelihood of anyone coming to look for them remains slim to none. Furthermore, the injured condition of Xander and Tessa gives Rey the upper hand against the trio despite them outnumbering him. Therefore, as it stands, he has the perfect opportunity to make a few thousand bucks off of his victims. Rey is actually a human trafficker who picks up unwitting victims and then partners with the doctor, Curtis Hunt, to harvest their organs.

Rey plans to do the same with Tessa and Xander. However, he has different plans for Kaya, who is healthy-bodied compared to her friends. Rey wants to put the young woman up for bid on the black market while he harvests organs from the bodies of her friends. In the aftermath of Hunt’s arrival—who also brings another job to pick up some migrants from the coast for the fisherman—the duo gets to harvest Xander’s body. Meanwhile, the girls in the brig can overhear the horrors of the butchering that is unfolding above deck. Thus, the reality of their nightmarish predicament sets in.

Does Kaya Survive?

While Rey and Hunt are harvesting Xander’s organs, Kaya makes a discovery that could potentially become the key to her and her best friend’s survival. In the brig, she finds a piece of metal wire, which she plans to use on a rusting air vent to use the opening as an escape hatch out of the underdeck storage unit. Yet, before she can complete her plan, her captors come downstairs to take Tessa away. Even though the two girls attempt to put up a fight, they inevitably end up losing as Rey drags Tessa away. The menacing duo attempts to prepare the young girl for the “operation” table as the night sets in.

In the meantime, Kaya continues filing away at the rusted vent and manages to access the hatch to escape from the brig. Afterward, she stealthily moves around the boat, sleuthing through the engine room and cockpit. Eventually, armed with a knife and a harpoon gun, she spots Tessa tied down to an operating chair and makes her move. Kaya trains her harpoon gun on Hunt and gives him a chance to untie her friend. The doctor unwisely assumes the young woman won’t hurt him, failing to take her fight or flight instinct. As a result, Kaya ends up firing the harpoon on Hunt, leaving him to bleed to death.

Even though Hunt puts up a fight as he’s choking on his own blood, Kaya and Tessa manage to fight him off. Once free, the two girls waste no time to get off the boat. However, Rey becomes aware of their actions and slits through the lifeboat attached to the ship. Nonetheless, the teenagers have already slipped away by then, swimming away from his ship and toward the Hunt’s luxury yacht. Furthermore, Kaya had the presence of mind to cut off crucial wires in the engine room to rob Rey of any advantage.

In the ocean, it becomes obvious that Kaya and Tessa’s journey is doomed due to the latter’s injuries. For the same reason, she convinces her friend to leave her behind. Thus, Kaya arrives at the yacht on her own. Immediately, she uses the boat’s radio to call for help. The voice on the other line assists her in activating a beacon that the authorities can use to track down her location. Nevertheless, before she can toss the beacon into the ocean to activate it, Rey arrives at the yacht. Initially, Kaya attempts to hide from the man, but it’s only a matter of time before her attacker catches up to her.

In the following confrontation, Rey stabs Kaya in the stomach, rendering her helpless. Still, the teenager manages to doll out her own blow by firing a flare gun at his face. Therefore, while she’s bleeding out, the fisherman succumbs to a quick, gory death. Once Rey’s threat is neutralized, Kaya still continues fighting for her life. Despite the stab wound, she crawls across the boat to get closer to the edge and chuck the beacon into the ocean. In the end, the beacon ends up on the edge of the boat, seemingly sealing the teenager’s fate. However, the ocean currents inevitably sway the beacon into falling down the boat’s edge. Thus, the beacon activates and signals Kaya’s location to the authorities. Ultimately, her perseverance ensures her survival, even in the face of impossible odds.

Does Tessa Die?

Once help arrives for Kaya, the intense intrigue around her survival shifts toward her friend. As the authorities find Kaya, the teenager is fatally stabbed and teetering on the edge of life. Yet, with a sustained pulse, her survival becomes a promising prospect. On the other hand, Tessa still remains lost at sea. Earlier, the teenager compels her friend to leave her behind because she knows that her injury will only slow them down. As the duo are swimming toward Hunt’s yacht, they are also actively escaping Rey, who will stop at nothing to hunt them down. Therefore, Tessa knew the best option was for Kaya to leave her alone.

Even so, as Kaya swam away from her, she promised Tessa that she would return to help her. As such, once she’s with her rescuers, she informs them of Tessa’s predicament. She has been out in the sea overnight, reliant on her life ring to keep her afloat. Worse yet, the hypothermic conditions are bound to only worsen her pre-existing injuries. Yet, Tessa manages to make it through the night. Therefore, as the authorities find her, she’s still holding onto life.

In the end, Kaya and Tessa are both carried out of the ocean and back to the shore. The girls will require extensive medical attention and will likely be scarred by the traumatic events of their abduction. Additionally, Xander and Julian’s deadly fates will leave a scar on them. Nevertheless, the two teenagers will make it to the other side. Moreover, thanks to Kaya’s efforts, the authorities can look into Hunt and Rey’s business to learn more about their victims and even send out help to many.

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