Season 6

Season: 5-6, Episodes: 16, Faction: Jacob/Survivors

Overview

Ilana Verdansky was a survivor of Ajira Flight 316. She claimed to Sayid Jarrah to be a bounty hunter hired by the family of Peter Avellino to capture Sayid and escort him to Guam. In reality she was summoned to the Island to protect the remaining candidates by Jacob, with whom she had a previous relationship. Once Ilana had captured Sayid in Los Angeles, she forced him aboard Flight 316, where they were accompanied by most of the Oceanic Six. During the flight, the plane encountered turbulence and crash-landed on Hydra Island. There she assumed leadership of a group of people, including Bram, a fellow server of Jacob, Sun, Frank, Ben, and several survivors of the Flight 316 crash. She led this group to the remains of the statue of Taweret, where she revealed to Richard Alpert and the Others that the man with them, John Locke, was not who they thought he was. During her time on the the Island, Ilana led some of the candidates to safety. Upon encountering Richard again, she explained to him that Jacob had identified him as the person who would know what to do. Following Richard’s instructions, Ilana prepared a mission to destroy the Ajira plane. However, in her haste she mishandled some dynamite from the Black Rock, which detonated, killing her instantly.

2007

6×01 – LA X, Part 1 & 2

   

Ilana demanded to see Jacob, a demand which Richard fervently denied. He told her that just because she knew what lies in the shadow of the statue didn’t mean she was allowed to see Jacob. Ben, having just left Jacob’s quarters, approached Richard to tell him that Locke had requested to meet with him inside. Ilana asked Ben if Jacob was alright, and Ben made an attempt to avoid talking about what had happened. However, Richard told him to answer the question, and Ben lied by claiming that Jacob was fine and that John wanted to speak to him. Richard dragged him to Locke’s corpse, which Ben was shocked to see.

   

Bram lost his patience after waiting so long and grabbed Ben, forcefully bringing him inside the statue of Taweret. Once there, Bram and the rest of Ilana’s team were killed by the smoke monster. “Locke” then walked outside, and Ilana prepared to fire her gun at him, but Richard immediately ordered her and the others not to shoot at him. Ilana watched helplessly as “Locke” approached Richard, beat him unconscious, then carried him away, leaving the rest of them behind at the statue. (“LA X, Parts 1 & 2”)

6×04 – The Substitute

   

Ilana went inside the foot of the statue, and was found by Ben crying and mourning the death of Jacob and her team. Ben walked up to Ilana, and she demanded to know exactly what had happened. He told her that “Locke” turned into a pillar of black smoke and killed them before his very eyes. When she asked him what happened to Jacob, Ben lied to her, saying that “Locke” had killed Jacob as well before kicking his body into the fire. Ilana gathered Jacob’s ashes into a pouch and exited the statue with Ben. Once outside, Ilana discovered that Richard’s group had left, and Sun told her they left for the Temple. Ilana suggested that they go there as well, as it was the safest place on the Island. Sun said that Locke deserved a proper burial and they needed to bury him first. Ilana agreed to it and led the group back to the beach camp for a funeral.

   

Ilana and Ben both carried Locke’s corpse while they were on their way to the beach. Ilana explained that she and Bram had discovered Locke’s body in the crate after seeing him walking around on the beach. The two of them carried his body to the statue in order to show the Others the face of who they were up against. Ben asked her if the Man in Black would be able to change his appearance in the future, and Ilana told him that he was stuck in the form of John Locke. When they arrived at the old graveyard, they buried Locke, and Ilana asked if anyone wanted to give an eulogy. Ben decided to give a little speech, and in doing so revealed that he had murdered Locke. Everyone, including Ilana, shared shocked looks. (“The Substitute”)

6×06 – Sundown

   

Ilana, along with Sun, Ben, and Frank arrived at the Temple at sundown during the Man in Black’s attack on the Others who had decided to stay. Among all the chaos, Ilana and her group began searching for the candidates in order to get them to safety. Ilana stumbled upon Miles, who was hiding from the Man in Black. Ilana asked him where Shephard, Reyes, Ford, and Jarrah were. Miles told her Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer had left, and that Sayid was at the spring. Ben went to get Sayid, and Ilana led the rest of her group, which now included Miles, through the hallways, scanning the Egyptian writing on the walls. She spotted a particular hieroglyph on the wall and pushed it, revealing a secret passage. She and the others entered the passage for refuge from the Man in Black’s massacre. (“Sundown”)

6×07 – Dr. Linus

   

After leaving the Temple, Ilana and her group met up with Ben in the jungle. Ilana demanded to know where Jarrah was, and Ben told her that Sayid had just killed the Temple Master, Dogen, and his translator, Lennon, thus it was unlikely that Sayid would be joining them. The group decided to head back to the survivors’ old beach camp. During their walk, Ilana expressed suspicion that Ben had lied when he told her the Man in Black had killed Jacob. She asked Miles to determine Jacob’s dying thoughts by communing with his ashes in order to figure out how Jacob died. Miles revealed that it was Ben, not the Man in Black, who had killed Jacob. Ilana was extremely upset and angry at Ben and revealed that Jacob was the closest thing she ever had to a father. When the group reached the beach camp the next day, Ilana held Ben at gunpoint, chained him to a tree, and forced him to dig his own grave in retribution for the murder of Jacob. Ilana kept close watch over him as he dug, but at one point she walked a short distance away and ate a mango.

   

During this time, the Man in Black came and offered Ben a place in his group, then somehow unlocked the shackles Ilana had placed on Ben’s wrists without touching them. Ben, not wanting to die, made a break for the jungle, and Ilana gave chase. As Ilana was catching up to Ben, he found a rifle the Man in Black had left for him. He aimed the rifle at Ilana, forcing her to drop her own weapon. Ben then explained to Ilana his reasons for killing Jacob: he had been angry at Jacob for ignoring him, and very distraught by the death of Alex. Ben asked her to allow him to leave the group and join the Man in Black, as no one else would have him. Upon seeing Ben’s guilt for his actions, Ilana replied that she would have him, then walked away, having apparently forgiven Ben for his misdeeds.

    

Back at the beach, Ilana broke down into tears. Jack, Hurley, and Richard arrived at the beach, and Ilana shook hands with Jack and Hurley, whom she had never met before. (“Dr. Linus”)

6×09 – Ab Aeterno

   

That night, Ilana, while sitting at a campfire, relayed her prior meetings with Jacob before arriving on the Island. She revealed that Richard was the one who supposedly knew what their next step should be, according to Jacob. Richard himself denied knowing anything and maintained they were all in Hell.

He then left the beach camp, and Ilana decided the best thing to do was to follow him. She believed that Jacob meant what he said, and that Richard was mistaken in thinking he did not know what they were supposed to do next. (“Ab Aeterno”)

6×10 – The Package

   

Hurley left the campsite to go find Richard by himself. Though several people in Ilana’s group doubted that Hurley would be able to find Richard and convince him to return to the campsite, Ilana was more relaxed and adamant that Richard would return, insisting that they wait for him. Later, Ben finds Sun knocked out in the jungle, unable to communicate in English. Ben helped Sun back to the camp where Ilana wouldn’t believe him that Sun was already unconscious when he found her. Ben questioned this and Ilana replied that she didn’t believe him merely because he was speaking.

Richard eventually returned to the camp with Hurley, where he told them all to pack their bags, as they needed to leave and go blow up the Ajira airplane on Hydra Island to keep the Man in Black from leaving. (“The Package”)

6×12 – Everybody Loves Hugo

   

Later, as Hurley laid down flowers and spoke to Libby at her grave, Ilana came over to ask whether he was ready to leave for Hydra Island. She told him of their plan to blow up the Ajira plane with dynamite. She then asked Hurley about the grave he was kneeling at, and he told Ilana about his relationship with Libby and about her death. Ilana expressed empathy for him.

   

At some point later, Ilana traveled to the Black Rock and obtained four sticks of dynamite, planning to use it to destroy the plane. When she returned to the campsite, Hurley said that he felt they should not blow up the plane as originally planned. Ilana insisted they do so, as Richard said they should, and Jacob had told her that Richard would know what to do. As she spoke with determination about their need to destroy the plane for their own safety, she filled her bag with bottles of water, and set her bag containing the dynamite firmly on the ground. The dynamite immediately exploded, obliterating Ilana in a fiery explosion. (“Everybody Loves Hugo”)

Post-death

6×12 – Everybody Loves Hugo

   

Just after the dynamite blew up and killed her, Hurley began looking through her things, finding a Russian-language copy of Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground (Записки из подполья) and the draw-string pouch with Jacob’s ashes, which he then took.

   

Richard and Jack got into an argument about whether they should continue trying to blow up the Ajira plane with dynamite. Jack was adamant the tragic events showed they should not use the dynamite; Richard insisted they do so as, otherwise, Ilana’s death would have been in vain. Hurley ended up lighting the remaining dynamite and destroying The Black Rock in a fiery explosion.

Later, Ben commented to Jack and Sun that Ilana had been killed soon after she had told them they were candidates, saying that she had lived out her usefulness and “the Island was done with her.” He then commented that he wondered what would happen to them once the Island was finished with them. (“Everybody Loves Hugo”)

6×16 – What They Died For

   

Jacob mentioned Ilana when, in his child form, he asked Hurley to hand over his ashes, the ones he took from Ilana’s possessions after she died. (“What They Died For”)

6×13 – The Last Recruit

   

In the flash sideways, Ilana was a lawyer at the firm Sweetzer & Verdansky in Los Angeles. She knew Desmond Hume, and they appeared to be old friends; she owed him a favor and was very glad to see him for their appointment. She was also the executor of Christian Shephard’s will, and had been searching for his daughter, thus was surprised when Desmond brought her to her offices. She greeted Jack and David when they arrived at reception before introducing Jack to Claire, whom Jack only knew as a mysterious recipient in Christian’s will. (“The Last Recruit”)

6×14 – The Candidate

   

Ilana gave Claire a music box that Christian wanted her to have, as indicated in his will. (“The Candidate”)

6×17 – The End

Ilana had not yet “awakened” to the memories of her former life. She was not present at the church when Claire, Desmond, Jack, and their friends and lovers “moved on”. (“The End”)

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