ACROSS
1 Sales pitch
6 Outback birds
10 Sunup
14 Café lure
15 Clickable
webpage word
16 Home to billions
17 Grass shortener
18 Apart from that
19 Slightly wet
20 Julie Andrews’
“The Sound of
Music” role
23 Risk, e.g.
24 Healthful berry
25 Jimmy Fallon
hosts it
31 “Homeland” spy
org.
32 Taxi
33 Nebraska city
34 “Apocalypse
Now” setting,
familiarly
35 Gathering for
fans of graphic
novels, anime,
etc.
38 Delivery vehicle
39 Painting need
41 Microwave
42 Valuable rock
43 Avengers
member with a
patriotic shield
48 Tolstoy’s
Karenina
49 Dutch cheese
50 9/26/1957
Broadway debut
featuring the
consecutive
songs found at
the start of 20-
Across, the
middle of 25-
Across and the
end of 43-Across
55 With 50-Down,
tightrope walker’s
place
56 Oscar winner
Kazan
57 Aquafina rival
59 Craving
60 Accelerates, with
“up”
61 Foolish
62 Military meal
63 Cafeteria carrier
64 V-formation fliers

DOWN
1 “Casablanca”
pianist
2 Formal school
dance
3 Corn Belt state
4 Rise into view
5 Cattleman’s rope
6 Late morning hr.
7 Venus de __
8 Disentangle
9 Quick drawing
10 Arp’s art
movement
11 Right away, in a
memo
12 Namby-pamby
person
13 Midday snooze
21 Gas brand that
had a torch in its
logo
22 Florida’s Boca __
25 Pageant winner’s
crown
26 Exaggerate, as a
stage role
27 Spanish island in
the
Mediterranean
28 Devastation
that’s wreaked
29 Scarlett of Tara
30 Decrease in
intensity

31 “Closing Bell”
channel
35 Repetitive shout
at a protest
36 Required little
effort
37 Newspaper
opinion pieces
40 Secret supplies
44 Add to text, as a
missing letter
45 Carpenter, at
times

46 Suitable for all
ages, filmwise
47 Apple software for
creating videos
50 See 55-Across
51 Omelet
ingredients
52 Prima donna
53 Ready for picking
54 Toy dog’s barks
55 Play a kazoo
58 TV’s “Science
Guy”

By Peter Gordon
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/26/17

09/26/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

5 — Monday, September 25, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Based off the novels by Diana 

Gabaldon, “Outlander” follows 
the story of Claire (Caitriona 
Balfe, “Now You See Me”), 
a young army nurse whose 
single touch to a henge circle 
transports her to the Scottish 
Highlands 
in 
1743. 
Torn 

between two worlds, Claire 
must 
make 
the 
impossible 

decision to remain in the 
past or return to the present, 
where a previous life awaits 
her 
return. 
This 
dualism, 

emphasized often throughout 
the 
series, 
was 
especially 

poignant in the premiere of 
the third season of the steamy 
series, as both Jamie (Sam 

Heughan, 
“Doctors”) 
and 

Claire struggle to adjust to a 
life without one another.

This is mainly accomplished 

through 
quiet 
scenes 
that 

are able to speak volumes, 
sometimes 
without uttering 
a 
single 
word. 

Moments 
as 

simple as a man 
playing bagpipes 
on the corner of 
the 
university 

reminds viewers 
of the double life 
that Claire has 
not only lived, 
but continues to 
live. A Scottish 
song 
playing 

quietly 
and 
unexpectedly 

on the streets is the perfect 

metaphor for the new lifestyle 
which Claire is struggling 
to adapt. Though she has 
returned to her own time and 
is living happily in Boston with 
her husband Frank (Tobias 

Menzies, “Game 
of 
Thrones”), 

a 
part 
of 
her 

still 
remains 

in the Scottish 
Highlands 
with 

Jamie. 
Cooking 

over 
the 
fire 

rather than on 
the 
stove, 
she 

responds almost 
automatically 
that her husband 
much prefers it — 
the line that once 

separated Jamie from Frank is 
beginning to visibly blur.

MEGAN MITCHELL

Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW

The new series explores the intracacies of Jamie and Claire’s 
relationship as they enter the next chapter of their lives in the show

‘Outlander’ premiere has 
historical roots, romance

STARZ

“Outlander” has returned

“Friend 
Request” 
is 
a 

train 
wreck 
of 
a 
motion 

picture, every bit as stupid 
and borderline offensive as a 
movie with the tagline “Evil 
is trending” is expected to be. 
The trio sitting behind me in 
the theater apparently caught 
on early, and after ten minutes, 
they left, whispering, “If we 
leave now we can make the 
next showing of ‘It.’” If I’d had 
any idea what was about to 
ensue, I would have followed 
them.

The film tells the story of 

Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey, 
“Fear the Walking Dead”), 
a 
pretty, 
popular, 
perfect 

college student who adds a shy 
girl from one of her classes, 
Marina (Liesl Ahlers, “Inside 
Job”), as a friend online. 
However, after Marina begins 
to exhibit strange behavior, 
Laura unfriends her, leading 
Marina to take her own life. 
Soon people start dying, and 
it becomes apparent that some 
remnant of Marina is still 
terrorizing Laura. But that 
isn’t the worst part. As people 
start dying, Laura starts losing 
friends online. Can she and her 
friends stop this malevolent 
force before more people die? 
And can they do it before, 
unthinkably, her friend count 
hits zero?

On the most basic level 

possible, “Friend Request” is 
a 
monumentally 
ill-advised 

movie. People die frequently 
and horribly, yet the main 
characters 
are 
continually 

interested 
in 
how 
this 
is 

affecting their social media 

image 
instead. 
The 
film 

features 
several 
cutaways 

showing the friend count of 
the main character dropping 
closer and closer to zero, and 
it treats this with the gravest 
importance.

In a smarter movie, this 

might have been played as 
an intentional joke, a satire 
of 
our 
increasingly 
social 

media 
obsessed 
society. 

Unfortunately, 
despite 

attempts 
at 
ham-fisted 

messaging 
about 
internet 

addiction – there are moments 
the screenwriter may as well 
grab you by the throat and 
scream in your face, “SEE! 
THE INTERNET IS EVIL!” 
for all the subtlety on display 
– nothing ever comes of it, 
and it just seems in bad taste. 
Of course, in a story that 
demonizes those with mental 
illness and valorizes the people 
who on more than one occasion 
call the target of their ridicule 
a “bitch,” that’s about par for 
the course.

That leads into the biggest 

problems of “Friend Request,” 
the characters, who are easily 
organizable into two camps. 
There is Laura, who is perfect 
and popular and never does 
anything wrong and is the most 
boring member of the ensemble 
as 
a 
result. 
Then 
there’s 

everyone 
else, 
who 
spend 

their time riddling off relevant 
exposition 
and 
heroically 

insulting a suicide victim. In 
fact, the most sympathetic 
character of the whole ordeal 
is Melanie herself, who is given 
a tragic backstory that means 
her actions, if not condonable, 
are at least understandable.

The horror is riddled with 

the same kind of brainless 
jump 
scares 
that 
always 

populate this sort of flick. 
Every other scene, a character 
wanders off on their own, and 
something jumps out at them 
and 
screams, 
and 
because 

humanity 
has 
a 
fight-or-

flight reflex, we scream, too. 
It’s lazy and predictable, but 
again, it’s par for the course. 
And of course, the whole 
thing wraps up with one last 
scare that makes no sense, but 
as a horror movie in 2017, is 
required to give it the illusion 
of weight. Likeable characters, 
a well thought out plot, and 
competent scares might have 
done the same thing, but that 
would apparently be asking 
just too darn much.

It’s hard to articulate how 

much I hated “Friend Request.” 
I hated the way it vilifies 
those with mental illness and 
implicitly advocates avoiding 
them at all cost. I hated that it 
treats the people who ridicule 
them as some sort of heroes. I 
hated the characters. I hated 
the story. Most of all, I hated 
that just two weeks after “It” 
showed us what an incredible 
cinematic 
experience 
the 

horror genre is capable of 
delivering, “Friend Request” 
is here to remind us of the 
predictable, 
boring, 
insipid 

drivel it usually is.

WARNER BROS.

“Friend Request” playing in theaters now

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM

Daily Arts Writer

‘Friend Request’ is every 
bit as insipid as expected

The film is more horrifying in its execution than anything else

FILM REVIEW

What makes a series like 

“Outlander” so different from 
shows of a similar nature is 
their ability to portray the 
historical reality of gruesome 
battle scenes. It’s easy to 
create a wonderfully brutal 
battle scene from scratch, 
but to portray a moment in 
history alongside the familiar 
characters 
is 
something 

special indeed. The Battle 
of 
Culloden, 
from 
which 

the aftermath is depicted in 
the first half of the season 
premiere, is one of the most 
significant clashes in British 
history in a struggle against 
the Jacobite rising. Gruesome 
and bloody, “Outlander” holds 
nothing back in depicting the 
battle and the fall of many 
of last season’s heroes. Most 
of 
which 
is 
told 
through 

flashbacks as Jamie relives 
the most gruesome moments 
of battle in his isolation. From 
walking through the woods 
to lying atop a pile of fallen 
Jacobites, Jamie is obviously 
living in his own personal hell, 
mourning the loss of Claire all 
the while.

Though each season brings 

a new chapter into the lives 
of Jamie and Claire, one thing 

that fans can always count on 
are the misty eyes that are 
likely to occur when watching 
“Outlander.” Whether it be 
through 
Jamie’s 
anguish 

conveyed in a single look or 
the young Jacobites who are 
physically led to their own 

execution, this season is no 
exception to the pulling of the 
heartstrings. As much as Jamie 
suffers, as does Claire, which 
is, of course, reflected in a 
more modern sense. Deciding 
to complete her education 
in medical school, she faces 
blatant discrimination which 
serves to remind us of a time 

not so long ago. But it’s not only 
her 
professional 
reputation 

that suffers under the weight 
of another life. At home, Frank 
smoothly accepts Jamie’s child 
as his own, though he struggles 
to share Claire with Jamie. 
But with good reason. Even in 
the throes of passion, Claire 
cannot look Frank in the eyes, 
preferring to simply make 
love to her husband. Except 
her husband lies separated in 
the past by 200 years and far 
across the Atlantic.

Not 
only 
does 
the 

“Outlander” 
premiere 

encompass the best of the 
series, but also the best of the 
reality of Claire and Jamie’s 
situations. While it’s obvious 
that 
Claire’s 
marriage 
to 

Frank is all but destroyed by 
her devotion to her rough and 
rugged husband, it’s a sharp 
blow to see the mournful 
reality of a marriage destined 
to fail play out on screen. 
However, as Jamie struggles 
more than we’ve ever seen 
him, 
we 
cannot 
help 
but 

anticipate a welcome reunion 
between the lovers. After all, 
history does have a tendency 
to repeat itself.

Outlander

Series 3 — 2 

episodes 
reviewed

STARZ

Mondays at 

8:00 pm

“Friend 
Request”

Ann Arbor 20 + 
IMAX, Goodrich 

Quality 16

Warner Bros.

This is mainly 
accomplished 
through quiet 
scenes that are 
able to speak 

volumes

