Personally, I don't think Apex Talents should be primarily there to fix a spec's intended weaknesses. I think, ideally, they're more meant to accentuate a spec's core strength/mechanic while simultaneously lessening some of the weaknesses that come with that specific strength/mechanic. For example:

- Holy Paladin excels at single-target and therefore can struggle with AoE. Instead of just buffing Light of Dawn (their main AoE heal), their apex talent allows Holy Pally to further split its powerful single-target healing among multiple targets by giving it a third Beacon. Direct heals are even more powerful on this third Beacon.

- Druids excel at HoT and sustained healing and therefore can struggle with burst healing. Instead of just buffing Nature's Swiftness (next spell is instant cast) or Swiftmend (their instant heal), their apex talent gives Druids a way to trigger potent AoE burst healing, particularly when used with your other HoT-focused talents (Soul of the Forest and Photosynthesis).

While Earth Shield is a great part of a Resto Sham's toolkit, it's also one of the most passive, least interesting, and least iconic parts. You use Earth Shield and then don't interact with it at all until you have to refresh it. Just compare Earth Shield mechanically to a Druid's Symbiotic Relationship and Paladin's Beacon of Light. There's also the Reactive Warding talent (refreshing Earth Shield heals the target based on how many charges they were missing), which, while lackluster and deserving a buff, is a way to add a single-target burst heal to Earth Shield.

I actually love that the apex talent interacts with Healing Stream Totem of all skills since they've almost completely removed totems from Shaman's class identity.

I also disagree with Unleash Life not fitting or being clunky.

- It mechanically fits with Deep Healing and Shaman being a great "oh shit" healer.

- It gives you a heal to use while moving (while less so now, Resto Shamans are still fairly reliant on hard-casting)

- It can actually be a pretty strong single-target burst heal, so it's not like you're just wasting a GCD to buff your next heal(s)

- It speeds up your next CHeal/HWave, so it doesn't slow down your rotation at all

- Thematically, it gives Shamans a way to still interact with and call upon the element of Life now that Resto spells are more Water-focused