SFLY,
Oh dear.
I appreciate that you have little or no civilian experience, but really.
Tricky approaches occur daily. You have to use your skill and experience to manage them. This may include the management of the aircraft, but it may also include other elements such as communication with ATC. If you fail to manage the approach, then there are the 1000' and 500' stable approach checks that mandate a go around in nearly every airline.
This crew of three failed to manage a simple defect, failed to monitor the aircraft on approach, failed to go around off an unstable approach, and failed to handle a low speed recovery.
What we don't know is why, but I hope this will be apparent in the final report and (in particular) the CVR. But in answer to your question to chuks about improving safety - crews should monitor the aircraft and observe the rules (stable approach gates). Simple really.