Lost - Season 4 - Finale

I think we've finally felt the backlash of getting the flashforwards handed to us.

The one thing that separated this season of lost from the previous seasons for me, was predictability. The flashforwards essentially have told us the end of the season before-hand, so we're just trying to figure out the "HOW" and not the "WHAT" of what is going to happen.
How would you feel if someone told you the ending of last season's superb finale, and then you just watched the episode to find out all the in-between details? That's what it basically felt like for this season's finale, and almost the whole season.

In essence, I thought this season's finale was the weakest of the four thus far. The way the transitions were made into the "future" flashforwards, seemed awkward at best, especially Locke telling Jack that he is going to "have to lie." Also, the way the show went back to the previous flashforwards of last year's finale didn't seem inventive to me; it seemed compulsive. It seemed like the writers had no idea where the show was going last year and needed to go back to these flashforwards to tie up the loose ends, and because they finally decided what the characters would say to each other instead of adlibbing it all.
The setup for next year's season seemed to make every character as dead-serious as ever, and the final twist of the episode wasn't even a twist, thanks to the three minute conversation build-up that practically said, "SO-AND-SO IS IN THE COFFIN LOL WE'RE ABOUT TO SHOW YOU HAHAHA."
And then I was like, 'great, now we can't be worried about that character's fate anymore.'

I really think the writers had the show like this:
Season #1) Season 1 story Arc Covered + Maybe Two + A little of Three
Season #2) Two + Three Arc covered
Season #3) Season Three + Four Covered - But NOT Five, or Six.
And then they got to season 4 and they finally, Finally, decided on which of the many remaining theories they could end the show on over the next two years, and finally set course on that heading.

As for where I think the show is headed next year?
Season #5: It will be the LOSTies trying to get back to the island (haha, a clever switch from season 1), and there will be flashbacks of what happened on the island up to the present day.
Season #6: The LOSTies, the Whidmores, the Others, and all other interested parties (because they're bound to multiply) will finally confront 'The Secret of Lost Island­™' and discover it was all a dream thanks to LeChuck.