Jay Gardiner survives his ordeal inside the whale, but the ending is both physically brutal and emotionally cathartic.
- After being swallowed during his dive, Jay uses what he has—oxygen from his tank, a battery, steel wool, and tools he gathers inside the whale—to ignite a makeshift explosion that blasts a hole through the whale’s stomach wall, allowing him to escape. He resurfaces and is rescued by a passing boat. - His escape is costly: Jay emerges with severe injuries, including broken bones, burns, and the loss of his left hand. - Throughout his time trapped, Jay grapples with guilt over his father Mitt’s suicide, their strained relationship, and the letter his dad left but never read. By the end, Jay finally reads the letter aloud (although the audience doesn’t hear its contents), and he reaches a state of peace with his father's memory. - He never recovers his father’s remains, and the story leaves ambiguous whether the transformative conversations with his father (inside his mind or possibly spiritual) were hallucinations or something more.
In short: Jay escapes physically, survives with lasting scars, and achieves emotional closure with his father even though the past can’t be changed.
Sources: Plot and ending summaries from JustWatch and JustJared explaining how Jay survives and what is revealed in the film, especially how he escapes and deals with his father's letter.
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