I feel like the negative judgements about Vi's intelligence are heavily tied into:
1.) People only respecting two kinds of intelligence, either inventing (like Jayce, Viktor, Jinx and Ekko) or scheming (like Mel and Silco). Which is an incredibly reductive view on intelligence.
2.) People being upset that Vi doesn't do what they want her to do. I think there are a lot of people on various sides who consumed Arcane as a media and wanted Vi to become leader of the underground or become head of the Firelights for example. They have a certain view on the Zaun versus Piltover conflict and might lean towards thinking it is dumb of Vi not to share their analysis of the situation.
And that I just disagree with. It's not that Vi is too dumb to become leader of Underground, it's that she genuinely isn't interested. It's possible that she doesn't "understand" the complexities of power relationships between Piltover and Zaun (we can't see into her head), but maybe she just generally has a different moral outlook on life. (whether it is "prioritizing your family and loved ones over larger society is a good idea" or "all people have value and are a mixture between good and bad, regardless where they come from").
People, especially in certain online spaces act like these are "solved" problems (ie "well obviously thinking systemically is superior" and "well, obviously, people who are part of an oppressing system should be treated differently"), when in reality for a lot of people they aren't. And they aren't because those people are too dumb to understand the "correct" choice, they just have different values.
"I prioritize my immediate surroundings" could genuinely be for "I'm overwhelmed and scared by complex systems and withdraw towards simple things I understand" or it could for example be deeply cynical "I have a pessimistic outlook on what effect my contribution will have on a systemic level and/or I have made the experience that people who go on about the systemic level don't achieve anything or make the lived reality of people worse".
For Vi specifically I think the show does portray her as somebody straight laced and stubborn (but not incapable of adapting her world view). And somebody who generally has very good instincts about people or who heavily relies on her instincts on people.
IMO in season 2 we have seen Vi do her cop-like tracking of people twice. First at the memorial attack where she spotted the the chem goon and quickly understood the situation and who was involved in the attack. (even her fighting style against stronger opponents like the chem goons shows a complexity about finding weak points, like tearing off the chem baron's valve) Second when she tracks Singed. (and I would argue we have also seen her be suspicious of Ambessa after the Memorial Attack)
And her being willing to change her mind on disliking/distrusting Jinx and letting Jinx's words lead her to change her mind on seeing Warwick as a threat again is an example imo both on her trusting her instincts but also adapting. Vi's judgments about people isn't just "I see or smell you and I make my judgement", imo she watches people and adapts her judgement accordingly. IMO she adapated her judgement of Jinx because she saw how Jinx interacted with Isha. Just like she was initially suspicious of Caitlyn, but opened up to her when she saw how Caitlyn acted in a variety of situations.
IMO the idea that Vi has good instincts on characters isn't very pleasant, because she makes value judgements about people (such as she likes Caitlyn, but she does not like Silco) that might not match everybody's preference. Again, some people might want to turn this into a question of intelligence. Such as thinking Vi is "dumb" of liking Caitlyn more than Silco, when to them clearly Caitlyn is more immoral than Silco because she is part of an oppressive system or because Silco is more honest or more powerful or more smart. Rather than "year, but what if Vi has just has different priorities or a different value system". (like "will this person attack me" or "will this person be nice to me" or "will this person betray me" or "will this person be open to reason" or "does this person have straight laced goals")
When I look at season 1, Act 2 and 3, I see Vi as somebody with a clear goal (find and retrieve Powder). She has her goal, she identifies what she perceives to be threats to this goal (Silco), she is aware she is not strong enough to bring him down on her own, she identifies Shimmer as a source of his power, she makes allies and then attacks what she sees at the source of his power.
Vi has her goals and she has her tools and strategies (ie find allies, get more firepower, attack). [another good example being when during the Memorial Attack, Vi withdraws to retrieve the Hextech Hammer, because her analysis of the situation is that without it the fight might not be winnable]
Again, people might be looking at Vi's process and disagree on various steps (what she identifies as a threat, why she chooses one method and not another (ie choose violence rather than negotiation or subterfuge)), but imo it's pretty clear that Vi has multi step approaches and her choosing one methods might just be a question of personal preference.
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