It's been a rough road for April Kepner on "Grey's Anatomy." From losing her job to losing her virginity to losing her faith, April was long overdue for some good. And in the ABC medical drama's current ninth season, she got a new reason to smile in the form of paramedic Matthew.
But in a Shonda Rhimes series like "Grey's Anatomy," fans know it won't be smooth sailing for long.
Sarah Drew, who plays April, chatted with HuffPost TV via phone about being "the luckiest girl on television" stuck between Justin Bruening (who plays Matthew) and Jesse Williams (who plays her ex Jackson), Sarah Chalke's emotional upcoming episode, the fans' obsession with Japril and much more below.
What was your reaction when you found out April would get a new love interest this season?
[Laughs.] Well, it's fun! I mean, it's always fun to be in the middle of a love triangle. I feel sort of like the luckiest girl on television given the two people that I get to have the triangle with. [Laughs.] You know, they talked about giving April a love interest that wasn't Jackson last season, but that didn't happen and then they decided to do it this season, which I think is more fun because it's more complicated now that Jackson is also in the picture. It's been a really, really fun storyline to play.
Matthew's really sweet and pretty much perfect for April, or at least the April viewers first met. Will we see her grapple with whether or not she can tell him the truth about her virginity?
Absolutely. We'll see her kind of agonize as she tends to agonize over everything. I think the thing that's going to be the most surprising for her is that, you know, he seems like the perfect guy because he wants to wait, which is what she wanted to do, but she can't unlearn what she already learned in experiencing it. So now, in this week's episode, she's grappling with wanting to have sex with him, but knowing that she shouldn't want that and being very confused by the whole prospect and knowing that eventually she has to tell him the truth.
She actually asks Meredith [Ellen Pompeo] for advice about it, which is just sort of hilarious because Meredith is sort of on the polar opposite spectrum of feeling guilty about this sort of thing. [Laughs.] She's not necessarily the best person to ask. We have this great scene with April and Meredith where April compares sex to going to the carnival. It's really fun.
I was wondering who she would vent to with Jackson out of the picture for now. She definitely is the type to need someone to talk to.
Exactly! I feel like Matthew could be the person that she could vent to about stuff because he seems to be coming from the same perspective and the same world view that she comes from, but obviously she needs to vent about Matthew so he can't be the one she talks to. And she can't talk to Jackson about it! So she is sort of left out there going, "I don't know who can understand me!"
In next week's episode, Matthew's hurt in a gas tanker explosion. How will April handle that?
It's a totally chaotic day in the ER because there are so many injuries and she's dealing with one patient and a crisis she has to face in relation to what happens with that patient. She's feeling very torn -- she wants to take care of Matthew, but she also wants to take care of her patient. She needs to process things with Matthew, but he kind of misunderstands what she's needing comfort about. We'll see these moments where she's kind of hoping that this is the guy who's going to be who she needs and turns out, he kind of misses the point. [Laughs.] Which is so tragically sad. But she's also just worried about him too.
Will we see how April is feeling about Jackson's new position?
We won't really see her dealing with his new position, but we'll definitely see her dealing with him. He is in the episode where Matthew gets hurt. She has some moments with Jackson where he ends up being present for her in a way that she needs, but Matthew sort of misses the mark so that becomes more confusing, of course. [Laughs.] Thus the triangle gets more complicated!
Last week, we saw April working very well with Stephanie. Do you think she's really moved on or is she just being professional even though she's still a little preoccupied with Jackson and Stephanie?
I think that whether she's preoccupied with it or not, she has to just do her job. She takes her job very seriously and she takes doing a good job very seriously. She's there to help train Stephanie so she's not going to let anything get in the way of her doing her job, which I admire about her. She's reacted very well.
Jesse Williams said he was initially surprised by the response to Jackson and April. Are you surprised that fans are still rooting for them?
You know, it's funny. People have tweeted videos that they've put together about Jackson and April and I've watched a couple of those and I think what people really respond to is that there's just so much history there. I was looking at one of these videos and they've got clips of us from our first episode together -- just any little moment that Jackson and April interact. It reminds you that they have this incredibly strong foundational friendship so it makes sense. People love a good story when people are best friends first and then they fall in love. And they know Jackson better than they know Matthew so of course they're going to want to root for Jackson. Whether Jackson is actually the best choice for April or not, I think it makes sense that the fans are pretty excited for them.
Fans are really excited for the episode with Sarah Chalke. Did you work with her at all?
I didn't, but I talked to her at great length actually about her personal story, which is what this whole episode is about and it is just mind-blowing. Like unbelievable. She is so courageous and such a tenaciously present mother, who will do anything for her child. It's a really incredible, moving and heart-wrenching story to tell on the show. I'm just so excited that she got to tell the story and that she's raising awareness for Kawasaki disease and for being just super present in your child's life and taking pictures and really being on top of things because doctor's don't always catch everything. It's really amazing. I'm so excited to see it.
"Grey's Anatomy" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
