Oh, for certain. As I've said, the intrigues and politics are definitely a factor in the narrative. The mistake people make is when they start to believe that the story is only about that, or that it's more important. Those people are inevitably going to be let down when they realize that shizz is going to all come to an end and it's going to turn into dark fantasy, which is where it's been going all along.
Those people that are like 'Oh, this show isn't what it used to be', the ones that couldn't care less about what's really happening in GoT and only like the costume drama intrigues...those people are missing the point when they start complaining about it. They seem to think the show has somehow 'changed.' Those people don't understand that they've been putting all their eggs in a very small basket. And while that's okay they could show some awareness about it rather than piss and moan about things the show has been foreshadowing since day one.
It's like when people who've only watched the Berserk anime complain about the Eclipse. They just don't get it. They're not to be taken seriously as critics of GoT because they aren't evaluating it for what it is.
