Season 2 Episode 18: Epilogue(Spoilers)

A) From where did you get the idea that was 50 when the show started? I do not recall any mention of her age in the show and although actor ages are not good indicators of character ages Ming-Na was in her mid-40s when she started filming the series. That may not be a huge difference and maybe you were rounding up, but I found it curious that you stated it very matter-of-factly.

B) It is only likely that they would outlive her if the only factor that you consider is age. However genetics, lifestyle, and random luck are important factors as well. Eli hasn't exactly lived a healthy lifestyle and there are a lot of dangers involved in settling a new place with the bare minimum that can cut people down early. For example, Greer and Scott are particularly active members of the community who were likely to involve themselves in the most high risk situations; hard manual labor, (what we consider to be a simple injury could be life threatening in their situation) hunting, scouting, etc. Chloe was also rather involved during her tenure on Destiny and she may or may not have continued to volunteer for high risk activities as she aged or she could have just had a bad spill where she hit her head doing something perfectly routine and without proper medical care that did her in. Other factors that can randomly cut people down include sickness, food related illnesses, weather conditions, and so on.

Plus, again, genetics are huge. If you're Cloe and you get cancer, that's it, you're gone. If you're Camile and you engage in rather safe activities and you don't have a high risk for medical problems along with a predisposition to longevity, there's no reason you can't outlive people younger than you. It happens all the time in real life both in societies with minimal access to medicine and those with high access - There's no shortage of stories of individuals who outlive those around them including sometimes their own children. It is not the norm, but we traditionally don't go around saying that it is stupid and shouldn't happen. Instead we usually murmurer a; "Oh that's cool/interesting," and then move on with ours lives. Why therefore should it be any different when it happens in fiction?