Upamanyu Biswas
In ‘Something in the Water,’ the survival thriller film directed by Hayley Easton Street, Meg and Kayla’s destination wedding plans take an unfortunate hit when they get stranded at sea with their girlfriends. Desperate to resolve the personal issues of Meg and Kayla, the group winds up in a precarious situation where their fates are left at the hands of nature. Subsequently, the five women must band together to brave the obstacles of the treacherous open waters infested by sharks. Hard decisions have to be taken to ensure the group’s survival, as everyone’s resilience, fortitude, and commitment are questioned.
At the movie’s end, Meg finds herself adrift in a lonely and harsh ocean with no sign of land in any direction. As she clings to the hope of survival, a contingent of ravenous and hungry sharks begin circling around her, leaving little scope for escape. The only avenue of rescue lies on the shoulders of Kayla, who has to race against time to save her former girlfriend from a gruesome death. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Something in the Water Plot Synopsis
One night, while walking together, Meg and Kayla, a young couple, are verbally assaulted by a group of women who target them for their lesbian relationship. When Kayla flips them off by showing her middle fingers, the thugs attack the pair, throwing Meg down a staircase and proceeding to kick her without holding back. Kayla has to watch her lover be beaten in front of her while she is helpless in coming to her aid. A year later, a recovered Meg lands in the West Indies to join up with her friends, who, unbeknownst to her, have also invited Kayla to come. The two are no longer in a relationship following the mugging Meg had to endure. Therefore, she is shocked to learn that Kayla has come to pick her up at the airport.
Meg and Kayla’s friend, Lizzie, is getting married to Dominic. He is the brother of Cam, another friend of the duo, and the mastermind behind a plan to bring Meg and Kayla back together. She takes the whole crew on a boat ride to a remote island, where Meg and Kayla are forced into engaging in a private conversation to heal the rift between them. They decide to fake their reconciliation, wishing to return home as quickly as possible. Upon reuniting with their friends at the shore, things go wrong when Ruth, while playing in the island’s shallow waters, gets bitten by a shark. The crew realizes that Cam has accidentally brought them all into shark-infested waters while trying to mend the split between Meg and Kayla.
Desperate to save their friend’s life, they mount their boat and let Lizzie drive them back. However, the inexperience of the aspiring bride leads to further catastrophe when she rams the hired boat into a coral reef. Suddenly trapped on a capsizing boat, the group has no choice but to abandon the ship and use their life jackets to stay afloat. Soon, they learn that in their efforts to stay afloat, Ruth has passed away from the injury and subsequent blood loss. They make the hard choice of leaving their friend’s body for the sharks as they try to survive themselves. Hoping to get some help, Kayla swims away from the group as she is the only one capable of doing so. Meanwhile, Cam, Lizzie, and Meg have the difficult task of staying alive until help arrives to rescue them.
Something in the Water Ending: Does Cam Die?
Out of all the members of the group, Cam is the only one who is the most enthusiastic about adventuring. Hence, the opportunity to go on a boat ride into the ocean excites her more than her friends. While the rest of the group believes that they are out for a luxurious and lazy time on a yacht, she wants to take a more rustic route by riding a hired boat to the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately, her decision leads to harsh and unforeseen circumstances, specifically costing the life of her friend, Ruth. Subsequently, the situation unravels even further when the whole boat sinks, and the crew is left struggling to survive in the ocean. Later, in an attempt to flag Meg down, she is attacked by a shark from behind her, which disposes of her swiftly, leaving behind a bloody mess.
After a fight with Lizzie, Meg learns that Kayla originally intended to propose marriage to her. Stunned by the revelation, she decides to follow Kayla, not listening to reason or logic as she does so. Cam tries to bring her back, leaving Lizzie behind, unaware that a shark is tailing her. Lizzie screams at Cam to turn around and look out for the shark, but the warning turns out to be too late. She gets bitten by the shark, the same as Ruth, except her injury is left on her hand as compared to the latter’s leg. The scent of the blood attracts the shark once again. Cam makes the choice to extricate herself from the group, armed with a knife. However, she barely gets the chance to use it in any capacity before she is killed and eaten by her predator.
What Happens to Lizzie?
Following Cam’s death, Meg and Lizzie stick close to one another, hoping that their salvation arrives sooner rather than later. They momentarily gain some hope when a cruiser passes by. They shout and holler at the ship, trying to attract its attention, but it ends up being futile as it simply does not notice them. Tired from staying afloat for hours, the duo starts confiding in one another about their personal tragedies and traumas. Around night-time, a heavy rain starts pouring, bringing even more choppy waters to the surface. The following day, Meg wakes up to find that Lizzie’s life jacket is now wrapped around her. She searches for Lizzie everywhere but realizes that her friend has sacrificed herself just so that Meg can survive.
Despite the fact that Lizzie had a marriage to look forward to and a bright future on the horizon, she is willing to put her bond with her friends over her personal needs. Even though she argues with Cam and is responsible for sinking the boat, her act of sacrifice is a way to atone for her faults while also providing a new lease of life for her friend, Meg, who has been afflicted by dark and depressing things for a long time. She does not want to take away from Meg’s future either, and thus, when the opportunity presents itself, she exchanges her life for her friend’s. Additionally, she may have also weighed the possibility that Kayla would be deeply affected if she returned to find Meg dead. It was a chance for her to save not just one friend’s future but two.
Does Kayla Rescue Meg? Do They End Up Together?
Although Meg and Kayla make a pact to lie to their friends about their reconciliation by stating that they are going to get married alongside Lizzie, the former is unaware of the fact that Kayla was secretly holding onto hopes of proposing marriage for real. It is only during the fight between Cam and Lizzie that Meg learns the truth. Prior to that, she is still unable to get past the trauma of the beating she had to endure at the movie’s beginning. She even tries to follow Kayla by swimming in her direction but gets flagged down by Cam. Clearly, Meg’s knowledge of Kayla’s intended proposal has shifted her feelings for her former girlfriend. In the end, she breathes a sigh of relief when Kayla saves her from the circling sharks by arriving on a rescue boat, symbolizing their renewed bond.
The events of the boat trip are sure to stay plastered in the minds of both Kayla and Meg. Having lost all their friends during a journey meant to reconcile the pair’s differences, they are bonded through their shared grief of witnessing the deaths of Lizzie, Cam, and Ruth. They are no strangers to traumatic incidents, considering the fact that their previous relationship was torn apart by one. So, the experience of another disturbing scenario may be something they are accustomed to.
The pain and struggle of being stranded at sea will be a marker of their relationship and what it had to overcome to find its bearing once more. They will not wish to think about the deaths of their friends, but in many ways, the possibility of reigniting their relationship is what Meg and Kayla’s friends would have wanted from them in the first place. As the two ride off into the distance, leaving behind the bloody waters of the ocean where they lost all their friends, it will stick out in their minds forever and may be the basis of a new, stronger relationship forged through the hardships they had to endure.
Read More: Something in the Water: Is the Movie Inspired By a True Story?
