These are episode recaps for the watching guide on my website. Useful to go through the confusing plot or draggy/unnecessary scenes/subplots/characters.
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-info-and-recap-episodes-1-to-6/
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-recap-episodes-7-to-12/
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-recap-episodes-13-to-19/
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-recap-episodes-20-to-25/
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-recap-episodes-26-to-33/
https://chonawrites.com/pursuit-of-jade-drama-recap-episodes-34-to-40/
Yellen:
Is the plot that difficult to follow? I mean for a newbie who has never watched this kind of drama?
I came upon an article on substack raving about this drama and its male lead and explaining how female fans love toxic men like the ML in this drama; so I wanted to give it a try. But if I need a guide book in order to watch it, I will give it a pass.
Sorry for the late reply, been busy on the weekends. Now to answer your question. If you have never watched any Chinese historical (palace drama, wuxia) or historical fantasy (xianxia, xuanhuan) drama, the main plot may not be too confusing, but there maybe many arcs, subplots, characters, people names (status, alias, etc), non-people names (places, items, poison/curse/potion, etc.) to make those 30-40 episodes.
When I first started watching Chinese historical, I was overwhelmed with all the above. Mind you, at that time, the dramas are 60-80 episodes long. I found some sites recapping the plot. They're super helpful. Unfortunately, there are hardly any of those recap sites anymore.
My recaps are not necessarily a "guide book". They're helpful to go through confusing/draggy/filler parts or characters. Also, because of many episodes, some viewers don't binge-watch in one go but take breaks here and there. By the time you pick up the drama again, you may have forgotten the details. That's where reading the recap of previous episodes helps.
