People, it's there in the briefing- 'pull the mask to your mouth and nose and breath normally!'. So....you pull the mask to your mouth and nose and breath normally! Who said you have to 'see' the mask is working? You do as you are told! Make the emergency briefing any longer and nobody will watch- few enough do now, then get furious because something happened and they didn't know what to do. All you have to do is pull it to your face and it does its job! This is an emergency situation- if you can't obey the simple instruction, what happens to you is down to you. How can these people grizzle 'their masks were not working'? IF they were not working, they would have passed out. It takes longer to get a 737 into the descent than your survival time at 30,000'+. IMO, any attempt to repressurise the cabin would have led to more intense pain than than that inflicted on the descent. It would then have led to being at high altitude with no O2 left whatsoever should the pressure control go wrong again. Correct decision to descend IMO.
Reading recent posts about the CVR, it is an accident investigation device only to be used when the pilots are unable to testify. It is NOT an investigative device. Any need to study its contents, then you should be landing without delay, within its short remaining duration, not continuing a flight to land many hours later. Not a sensible suggestion considering the parameters of use placed upon it. It is NOT a spy device for regular monitoring- it is an accident investigation device only. That is why it is short duration overwriteable- that is all that is needed.