Trip's death would never have been handled well in any one-hour, abbreviated finale. If they were going to whack Trip all along, the least the Beebs could have done is pushed harder for a two-hour slot for "TATV" to allow the story to play out a little longer and perhaps make more sense. Invest more time and emotion into Trip's eventual passing near the end of the episode. More buildup with the jewel-seeking alien thieves being more menacing and a lot less one-dimensional and predictable.