'The Great Seer' Three Secrets Revealed by the Director

TN: Spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 in the following article.

Director Lee Yong Suk revealed three secrets regarding the first episode of SBS major production, "The Great Seer."

Before revealing the secrets, the setting of "The Great Seer" must be clarified to those who are unfamiliar with Korea's history.The shaman of Goguryeo foretells that a 자미원국 (pronounced "Ja-mi-won-gook") will appear and that it needs to be discovered for the prosperity of the royal family. Although the "Ja-mi-won-gook" is Gogureo's hope, it is also a fear at the same time. The fear is rooted from the fact that Goguryeo is under the power of the Yuan Monarchy and discovering the "Ja-mi-won-gook" will anger the people of the Yuan Dynasty.

Almost the whole beginning of "The Great Seer" is based on the concept and the location of this land that is said to have the power to bring prosperity to the royal family of Goguryeo.

Continuing on: The First Secret

The first secret is about the newly debuted actor Choi Jae Woong, who plays the character of Dong Ryun. Dong Ryun learns of the location of the "Ja-mi-won-guk" but also discovers that they must wait 50 years for the land to appear. Dong Ryun decides to keep the news to himself as a secret, which places him in jail for 10 years with continuous tortures.

During his time in jail, Dong Ryun eats the bugs in his cell in order to survive. The director revealed that the scene was filmed with real live bugs. It turns out that Choi Jae Woong actually put a 5cm beetle in his mouth and actually chewed it for the drama.

On TV, the only scene that was shown was Dong Ryun putting the beetle in his mouth but it has been revealed that Choi Jae Woong actually chewed on the bug. Regarding this scene, Choi Jae Woong stated, "When I put the bug in my mouth, I felt the beetle's legs moving in my mouth."

 The Second Secret

The second secret is that Lee Jin had to be in the water for approximately 8 hours for a 10-second scene.

Young Ji (Lee Jin) goes after Dong Ryun (Choi Jae Woong), who escaped the Goguryeo warriors in a boat. However, Dong Yun's boat is far beyond reach and Young Ji, who had been riding a horse, is thrown into the deep waters of the river. Just when Young Ji is about to get carried away by the water, Dong Ryun pulls her into the boat to save her.

For this scene, Lee Jin had to fall into the water several times from the back of the horse. Lee Jin successfully completed the scene without any difficulty regardless of the countless hours that went into the 10-second scene. The explosive response towards Lee Jin after the broadcast of the first episode must be the result of all her hard work.

The Third Secret

The last secret revealed by the director is about the sword dance that was performed by the guards protecting the palace, in front of the King of Goryeo and the ambassador of the Yuan Dynasty. It turns out; the sword fight was rehearsed for two straight months.

The ambassador of the Yuan dynasty becomes suspicious of the meaning behind the sword dance and executes the leader of the guards who performed the dance. This scene involving the sword dance expressed a deep meaning of the situation of Korea in the actual time period when it was under control of the Yuan Dynasty.

The choreography was created 2 years ago by professionals and went through 5 modifications before it was taught to the actors/performers. The scene became a work of art that was created after 2 straight months of practice.

Meanwhile, the second episode of "The Great Seer" features Dong Ryun and his discovery of the "Ja-mi-won-gook" and his relationship with Young Ji. The second episode of "The Great Seer" was aired yesterday, October 11.

This is one reason why I love saeguks. The effort and dedication put into the production is just admirable. Can you believe shooting 8 hours in water for a 10 sec shot, or rehearsing a sword fight dance for 2 months for a 3 minute shot? Applause for the production team, actors and everyone else in The Great Seer!

credit:kdramastars