The episode wasn't a bad one, but it didn't make much sense. 6 years later and everyone is still on the same ship in the same positions? And the reason Riker was supposedly watching the recreation made no sense to me either- it didn't tie into their episode in any way that I could really see.

And Troi outright spoiling Trip's death like that bugged the hell out of me. Without that it would have been so much more powerful.

You may be onto something as to why it was written the way it was.