As per the other (and recent) unreliable AD incidents show, to recover demands a crew be incredibly sharp, profusely trained, and able to selectively ignore some of the computer's conclusions.
I think this is what is making me confused. The computers conclusions? The computer doesn't produce conclusions. This is as far as I know at least. The pilots interface to the airplane remains the sidestick. Throughout the entire episode, the sidestick remains the only control input. According to one of the published papers on the Airbus systems, the failure of any of the FEP systems should only result in an increase in the pilots workload (which would be equivilant to the pilot operating as he did without any FEP system).
As far as I can see, if FEP starts failing, the pilot just continues steering from the sidestick. S/he just needs to be aware that if you make bad choices for inputs they could damage the aircraft. Is this not right?