re: Akasha. your opinion is not controversial at all because she really is a bit of one note villain in the books, unfortunately.
and I love that you mentioned her transition from stone to flesh. maybe it's the whispering, the subtle rustling and Sheila's physicality, but Akasha really has that serpentine quality to her that I've not seen in any vampire so far, aside from Louis. the pretermatural stillness and then the sudden explosion of movement, like a snake striking to bite, only adds to it.
Ah! I'm glad I'm not alone then, haha, and can't wait to see what the show and Sheila do with her!
And yes!! Sheila delivered such an incredible physical performance in and of herself, but she was so well supported by the writing of that monologue and the make-up and prosthetics and the vfx and the sound design and the score. Truly just everyone coming together to maximise their joint slay, haha. I can definitely see the serpentine feeling (I felt there were some hints almost of a sort of Medusa-esque, Greek figure in her? Which was pretty incredible, also parts of it felt a little Ganja & Hess to me, which is also thrilling), but there was something to the tapping too that felt really original and really got to me? Just - - otherworldly, like I said in the last post, and I'm so, so thrilled that she's our Akasha.