Use the damn Force, Grogu. 'The Mandalorian' ends a messy season.

The 'Star Wars' series briskly ended its third season. PLUS: Adam Driver rumored for 'Fantastic Four,' 'Fast X' and 'Godzilla x Kong' trailers, and does Jonathan Majors have a future in the MCU?

Grogu in The Mandalorian episode “The Return.” / Lucasfilm

Hey, we made it to Friday, which means this is the first Friday edition of Popculturology. (It’s basically the same as the Thursday newsletter, just a day later now.)

This is another packed edition. The Mandalorian finale. The Jonathan Majors situation. A wild title for the Godzilla vs. Kong sequel. There’s even a bit of Kermit the Frog as a treat at the end of the newsletter.

With so much going on in the world of pop culture, there are going to be things that don’t make Popculturology. I’m trying to be more selective about what shows and movies get mentioned in the Playlist section. Sometimes I want to watch TV without taking notes.

The new season of Dave is one of those shows. It’s a great show. I think we’ve watched it since its first season. We’ve caught up with the three episodes of the latest season, and I think it’s just as funny and creative as it has been. But I gotta have a few shows that I turn my brain off during.

This edition is for supporting subscribers. If you’re interested in becoming a supporting subscriber, the 20 percent off deal is still running through the end of this week. For a mere $40, you can get the two weekly editions of the newsletter, Deep SNL Thoughts and The Box Office Report for an entire year.

And regardless of your subscriber level, I appreciate you reading Popculturology.

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• Feature Presentation: The Mandalorian breezes through its season finale

• Bonus Feature: Jonathan Majors’ MCU future

• The News: James Gunn’s Superman movie enters preproduction, Adam Driver might be Reed Richards

• Trailer Watch: Fast X, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

• Playlist: Ted Lasso, Abbott Elementary, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Once & Always

• What to Watch: Chris Evans and Ana de Armas reunite for Ghosted

• Odds and Ends: Barry goes to Dave & Busters, Kermit’s essentials

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The Armorer and Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian episode “The Return.” / Lucasfilm

Welp, that was a Mandalorian season finale …

From afar, the third season of The Mandalorian was pretty cool. Gideon returned and was rocking Mandalorian armor with Maul horns. Din Djarin fought some space pirates with his Naboo starfighter. Grogu got to pilot IG-11’s corpse around the galaxy and even used the Force. And the show nailed live-action Bo-Katan, especially when she was wielding the Darksaber.

Up close, though, The Mandalorian’s third season was a directionless mess.

The Season 3 finale backed up the growing sense this year that The Mandalorian had lost its way, flying through a brisk episode while checking off plot points as quickly as possible.