Here, you're looking for the two words that make sense. The first word, whatever it may be, should have similar connotations to what the critic described it as.
(A) positive . . negative
(B) negative . . negative
(C) negative . . positive
(D) negative . . positive
(E) positive . . negative
So the answer is B. Put it in the sentence, and both words make sense in context as well, so this shows the answer to be true.