"I don't like fantasy, therefore this show sucks."

Hardly any of the claims she made about the show lead to it sucking. The only one, that sex was thrown in, seemed to be a standard of one of the other shows the author claims to enjoy: Rome. The sex in that was so thrown in they had to get TWO directors. One for the serious scenes, that are historically accurate, and another for the historically inaccurate sex romps.

This review also fails unimaginable hard for the simple reason that you can predict it was written by a non-fantasy fan woman. Maybe I'm generalizing to have done that, but I was right.

Her other criticisms? Not sure, seems like most of them would suggest that the series has a lot to tell and is just getting started. If she bothered five minutes of background research she'd know that a massive story is about to be told, hence a possibly slow start.

Also, her poor attempt at picking out a motif made me lose a lot of respect for her review. Asserting that there is some type of global warming commentary going on with the whole "winter is coming" motif is just moronic. While there might be parallels between global warming and a ten-year winter just around the corner, it seems to me that Martin is trying to talk about something that underlies both threats. The human tendency to become complacent and weak, which is a driving force behind the books. Had Ms. Bellafante realized this she might not have criticized the show for having little to say.

And if she had half monkey's intelligence she'd know not to say that a show has nothing to say after one episode.

Personally I thought the show did move a little quickly, and threw a lot of people new to the series into situations that were confusing. That is a valid criticism, but seems to me to be a necessary one. Ultimate judgment on the show will have to wait for a few more eps.

What is immediately clear, though, is that the show is well made. Nothing looks fake or cheesy and the acting is solid. Which already puts it above most shows.