I got through a good portion of this, didn't watch the last 2 episodes because at that point it was  dragging and you already knew who she was going to end up with.  They played push an pull so much that you really thought the outcome was going to be different but it ends up being what you originally thought it would be and that's super annoying to me.  I think that if this came out before Reply 1997 then it would have been easier to watch, but the stories were so similar that it made it boring and feel like the PD was trying too hard.

I don't agree that Go Ara was bad in this drama, I think this role was perfect for her, but at the same time I do agree that's she's not a very good actress because an actress who needs the role to fit her personality in order to be successful is not good at acting.  The whole point of acting is to convey feelings that are not your own and make them believable to others.  She can't do that very well.