During the second half of season five, we got to know the non-Oceanic 6 survivors of Ajira Airways Flight 316 quite well. And while they at first looked to be like a whole 'nother group of redshirts ('socks,' as Carlton Cuse would say), they turned out to be quite something else entirely.
Though Caesar, who quickly proclaimed himself leader of the survivors, turned out to be just a clueless guy out of his league (a shotgun blast to the chest is an easy indicator), it was Ilana who really became the leader. That seems to be because several of the remaining Ajira survivors actually knew Ilana beforehand, and apparently worked in some capacity for Jacob. Those survivors, despite their presumed importance, have gone unnamed (save for Brad William Henke's character Bram). So who are these people, and what do they want with the Island?
Kristin dos Santos, in her Twelve Days of LOST-Mas, has released a set of five options for what Ilana's group (the other Others, as Kristin calls them) want. Here are the options.
- They were sent by Charles Widmore to kill Ben.
- They were sent by the Man in Black (Jacob's nemesis) to find the island's time travel mechanism and destroy it.
- They were sent to protect Jacob.
- They were sent to revive John Locke.
- Ilana is future Sayid in drag.
Of course, the first and fifth options aren't really options at all. #1 has already happened with the case of the freighter people, and #5 is just silly. #4 seems unlikely, simply because that's a very specific task for such a large group of people. And #2 doesn't seem really likely either, because Ilana and Jacob seem to go way back (however, if this is the case, a Locke vs. Locke fight would be one of the coolest scenes to hit TV -- ever). So to me, the best choice out of these is #3, considering that they all seem to be in search of Jacob, and call him "the one who will save us all" (because, let's face it, he does lie in the shadow of the statue.
However, if protecting Jacob is their task, then it seems that they have failed miserably. Or have they? Zuleikha Robinson, who portrays Ilana, is signed as a series regular for the rest of the season, so it seems unlikely that Jacob's death will prevent them from protecting him. Because, after all, it's obvious that we haven't seem the last of Jacob in some form or fashion. And if the Man in Black can take a new form, why can't Jacob?
What do you think about Ilana's people? What's their purpose? Have they failed? Sound off in the comments below.
