This week, after the airing of WandaVision’s 7th episode, a lot of articles popped up about WandaVision’s runtime. We know that there will be 9 episodes and that there will be roughly 6 hours of content. With 7 episodes so far never reaching the one-hour mark, lots of people were speculating about how long the final two episodes are going to be.
But that’s not what caught my attention. See, every article I’ve read mentioned that the longest episode so far is Episode 5, “On A Very Special Episode” with a run time of 42 minutes. However, that’s not what my screen showed me…
On my app, my computer, and my TV, they all show 38 minutes of runtime. But that's not what ScreenRant, Comicbook, GameRant, or Inverse said. So what gives?
The difference between 38 and 42 minutes is a lot. Even if I round up to 39 and round down to 41, that’s still 2 minutes. That’s not insignificant. I posted this on Twitter and got confirmation from another user that yes, they also saw their runtime as just a bit over 41 minutes.
Because I don’t have a way to access another country’s Disney+, I did something I haven’t done in years: I torrented the fifth episode. I won’t subject my computer to downloading every available torrent, but the one I did download and the ones listed with runtimes on them all said 38 minutes. Conclusion: I’m not crazy.
What’s happening? And why do I care so much? To answer the first question, I think this has to do with the fact that the Disney+ available in Indonesia is not “pure” Disney but a partnership with another streaming company, Hotstar. I am reminded of this every day when I log in and see posters for horror movies. Definitely not Disney’s stuff.
I also remembered reading people’s reactions that there were 7 minutes of credit. However, every time the dreaded “Please Stand By” screen popped up, there were only ever 4 minutes of credit at most for me. Even if you count the in-universe credits that Wanda made, it still wouldn’t be more than 5 minutes. Looks like on our version of Disney+ something in the credits was changed. Maybe they sped it up or maybe they outright just cut some credits out. I cannot confirm any of this.
As for why I care so much about this, well, I live in Indonesia. It’s a pretty heavily censored country. A lot of Netflix stuff can get by, but I was watching Dickinson on Apple TV+ and they cut out the kissing scene between Emily and Sue. Bare midriffs get blurred all the time. Traditional dancers on TV now must wear skin-colored tights under their costumes instead of the traditional bare arms and legs. I was afraid that I was not getting the full content because some politicians decided that it’s too immoral for their citizens.
Even though I will be forever curious as to what those missing 2–4 minutes are, I think I feel safe in knowing that nothing of import was missing from my viewing experience.
