After last week’s runaway locomotive of an episode, I had hoped that Shokoku no Altair would find a lower narrative gear during its second offering. That dream remains unrealized, however, as the show continues to introduce settings and push its plot without giving its cast much time to breathe. The first two episodes thus far share a similar structure: Mahmut attends court and learns of a conflict that puts Turkiye at risk, objects to his rival Zaganos’ plans, is shot down, runs off to fix things himself, and stumbles upon a conspiracy orchestrated by the Empire. Altair’s premiere had a fun festival scene that introduced Ibrahim and Shara, at least, but this time all we got were a couple of clumsy flashbacks before being thrown into another dispute between Turkiye and the opposing Imperial forces.
On one side of this dispute is Zaganos Pasha, who is almost too eager to ride for the Turkiyean territory of Hisar and quell what seems to be an uprising there. While most of the primary characters have been playing with their cards face up, Zaganos Pasha is someone whose motives were in question after a single appearance. His thirst for war seemed to hint at an alliance with the enemy, but this episode revealed that he and Imperial Minister Louis (who was behind the whole thing once again) were on different pages regarding the plot in Hisar. Time will tell if Zaganos is a simple foil for Mahmut, or whether his military aspirations are more deeply rooted.
If there’s still hope that Zaganos will reveal himself to be more than a puppy-kicking villain, the same can’t be said for Louis, whose lack of a twirl-able mustache is a big missed opportunity. Whenever there’s an establishing shot of the castle where Louis confers with the Emperor, a comically evil piece of organ music starts up, just in case you were unsure who the bad guys were. I had high hopes for the Emperor at first, but his awareness of Louis’ schemes was more concrete this time around, which robs their scenes of any potential complexity. Much more interesting is Lady Lelederik, whose brief introduction revealed her cooperation with Louis to be tenuous at best. I’m no expert on monarchical titles, but I expect this new Duchess to trump the Minister in the coming weeks.
It occurred to me during this episode that Altair’s score is distinctly western, despite being set in an alternate version of the Ottoman Empire. The string section alternates between bombastic and mournful, but they’re nearly always audible, even during some of the characters’ inner monologues. We only get a break from this sameness during the dance scenes, where the music is cheerier and more varied, but not quite Turkish or even Middle Eastern, at least not to my untrained ears. (Feel free to call me out in the comments if I’m off base here.) Altair’s backgrounds and buildings look authentic, but its unremarkable music may be contributing to my lack of engagement with the series. Its ending theme, though, meshes traditional and pop music to create an entrancing beat for which I always stick around – that’s one department where Altair never lets me down.
