Why Lost Declined During Its Final Two Seasons

I am for the most part a fan of ABC's Lost, especially the first four seasons, but the last two seasons showed decline. Why?

The first 4 seasons were character-driven with the principals well connected to the plot. In contrast, the last 2 seasons the writers decided to tie-in all the intricate plot lines with obvious, cliched, Christian allegory and this contrivance shows its ugly head mostly in the dialogue. Once gritty and character-based, the dialogue became sanctimonious, pious, mouthpieces for the allegory more than the characters. The characters were once dark and complex with hints of redemption, but in the last 2 seasons their redemptive qualities became transparent with Hallmark-special insufferable gushiness. 

What "wisdom" do we learn from the last episode? Sadly, I can come up with little more than a trite and cheap aphorism: "We're all good people. We just disagree on how to get to the Promised Land."

I say farewell to Lost appreciating its first 4 years, but lamenting its last two seasons' capitulation to easy allegory. 

Comments

[Jesse Menn]

I'm not a die hard Lostian, and only really started watching halfway through season 5, but, it all seemed a bit obvious, didn't it? The finale last night, however, did manage to seem both "duh obviously" and fan service at the same time.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Jesse, the show was inspired by the master novella The Third Policeman by Flan O'Brien but then turned into Disneyfare for the last two seasons.

[Jesse Menn]

Yeah, when I was watching it I kept thinking of O'Brien (and a little of that film, Jacob's Ladder). My girlfriend seemed pretty disappointed by the last season, as well.