The character was originally named Travis Posada which suggests to me that Travis' character was originally supposed to be hispanic (which makes sense since it's set in LA). But I guess after Cliff Curtis was cast in the role, they decided to just make him Maori instead of trying to pass Cliff Curtis off as hispanic…

True, but basically the only times the dynamics of Bdsm have been seriously addressed have been in 50 Shades of grey (inaccurately), Secretary, A Dangerous Method, to a certain extent Exit to Eden and arguably Bitter Moon. And the article's quote didn't seem to be talking about seriously addressing the dynamics of…

"a common enough sexual practice that’s nearly exclusively depicted as a woman subservient to a dominant man in media"
Nearly exclusive? I wouldn't say that at all unless you think 50 Shades and Secretary are the only examples. Plenty of shows and movies have had characters engaging in the female-dom, male-sub scenario…