You know, something they could have done to help the plot -both here and in Hawkeye- would be to explain why Kingpin is running his crime through a tribal community. It actually makes a ton of sense. Reservations can and often are hotbeds of really extreme organized crime, particularly if there is gaming money involved in some capacity. We call it the "Indian Mafia" in my neck of the woods. That way the whole thing wouldn't have felt so freakin random, which I imagine dragged it down quite a bit. It's like oh what, Kingpin has a random Native "niece".... come again? To me, as a Native guy, there is a very clear and logical connection between Fisk as the operator of a criminal empire and the organized crime elements at play in tribal communities, but they never actually explain it. It think that's part of the reason why people keep saying this is "woke"': where is the actual reason that this New York crime lord and this Native lady are connected? Right? With no explanation, things feel shoe horned in, even though the character actually is a deaf Native lady and that's just how it is.
Interesting points. Although, IMHO, the whole relationship with Echo feels shoe-horned in and it would be difficult to write a coherent narrative. But I'll give it a shot.
In three seasons of Netflix DD, Fisk is shown to love exactly two people: his wife Vanessa and Wesley, whom he regards as a son. Yet in
Hawkeye we're supposed to believe he had a surrogate daughter in Maya. A young girl he loved so much
he was willing to forgive her shooting him in the eye and nearly killing him.
It would have been much simpler and more efficient if Fisk had no real feelings for Maya at all, and simply manipulated her need for a father figure into becoming his personal assassin. Exactly like he did with Dex/Bullseye. And while we're on the subject, I face-palmed at the scene where Fisk tells Maya she was the only one of his people to give Daredevil a good fight. Bitch, please: Bullseye kicked Daredevil's ass. And their fight scenes were orders of magnitude better than anything in this show.
We then could have had a series in which Maya comes to terms with all the horrible crimes she committed, as well as seeking revenge not only for the death of her father, but for being turned into a murderer herself. She could have been written as showing real guilt for the people Fisk made her kill, while still being determined to kill him.
This would have made Maya a much more sympathetic character, as opposed to the selfish, unrepentant, sullen criminal she's portrayed as here. Her quest seems to be almost as much about becoming, "Queenpin" - another facepalm moment - as getting revenge on Fisk.
Although I would have preferred the show to have been set in New York, they still could have used Maya's hometown as the main location. As you pointed out, there can be serious Organised Crime on Native American lands. It would have been easy to write the show as Fisk using the place as a major distribution hub for guns, drugs etc. Maya destroys much of the criminal infrastructure of the town, forcing Fisk to come to town himself, as his goons can't deal with it. Drop hints that Fisk cannot allow his business to be threatened as he needs all his money for some unspecified purpose.
Maya - who in my version has her original Photographic Reflex Powers rather than being Captain Dances With Wolves - still faces off with Kingpin at the Pow Wow, but is brutally beaten. This reminds the fans just how dangerous Fisk can be to Street Level Heroes, and sets him up as their Big Bad.
Before he can kill Maya, they are interrupted by dozens of people from the Pow Wow. Fisk realizes he can't massacre all these civilians and cover it up, so he leaves. But not before warning Maya he will kill everyone she loves if she continues her war against him. This in turn sets up the next Phase, as Maya realises she can't bring down Fisk alone, and needs to team up with Daredevil, Spider-Man etc.
The ACS is similar the one they actually showed: the reason Fisk was so desperate to keep the money flowing is because he needs it finance his campaign for Mayor of New York.
