April Kepner

April Kepner
Grey's Anatomy character
File:AprilKepnerpicture.jpg The Season 9 Gallery Picture of Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
First appearance	"Invasion" 6x05, October 15, 2009 (as recurring cast) "With You I'm Born Again" 7x01, September 23, 2010 (as main cast)
Created by	Shonda Rhimes
Portrayed by	Sarah Drew
In-universe information
Title	M.D.
Occupation	Attending General Surgeon
Family	Joe Kepner (Father) Karen Kepner (Mother) Libby Kimmie, and Alice (sisters)

April Kepner is a fictional character from the ABC American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, portrayed by Sarah Drew. She was a recurring character in the show's sixth season, before being promoted to a series regular in season seven. She was introduced in the episode "Invasion" as a former surgical resident at Mercy West Hospital who joins the staff at Seattle Grace Mercy West after the two hospitals merge. In season eight final, it is revealed that Kepner failed her Boards Exams which results in her being laid off by Dr.Hunt. However, in the beginning of season nine, she obtains the position of a trauma surgical attending. Although largely undecided about a specialty thoughtout her residency, Kepner finally settles on Trauma surgery.

The character's focal storyline involved her struggle with fitting into the new work environment, her religious believes and balancing her duties as the hospital's chief resident and as of the end of season eight, her struggle to maintaining a relationship with her one-night stand and best friend Jackson Avery.

Storylines

April was born on April 23 in Columbus, Ohio. Her mother Karen is a teacher and her father Joe is a farmer. She is the second of four daughters; her sisters are Libby, Kimmie, and Alice. April is a surgical resident from Mercy West Hospital, and she joins Seattle Grace after the merger of the two hospitals. April is seen locking heads with Lexie, who, finding her annoying, reads her red diary, in which April writes all her feelings, which indicates how insecure April actually is. Lexie uses her diary to unnerve April and later apologizes. After she made a mistake that lead to a patient's death, April is fired. However, Derek Shepherd rehires her when he becomes the new Chief of Surgery. As she is not confident anymore, she spends her time doing errands for Shepherd and develops a crush on him. In the season six finale, she discovers the body of her best friend Dr. Reed Adamson, who has been shot. She later runs into the shooter Gary Clark, who lets her go after she tells him about her life. She later tearfully reveals to Yang that she did that after remembering a technique she says she learned from Oprah. While Cristina Yang operates on Derek, she waits with Meredith Grey in the scrub room. When Owen Hunt is shot, she helps Meredith treat his gunshot wound. Following the shooting, April and Jackson Avery move in with Meredith, who also lives with Derek, Lexie, and Alex Karev. April and Meredith become closer prompting a jealous outburst from Meredith's sister Lexie, which also leads Lexie to say that she finds April annoying. However, Lexie later apologizes for her behavior, but tells April that she won't let her start a chore wheel at the house.

In the episode "Superfreak", April reveals that she is a virgin because she wants the first time she has sex to be special, and because she thinks guys find her annoying. April is promoted, along with many of her peers, to a surgical attending for one day but struggles with a cardiothoracic case. She later shows potential as a trauma surgeon by commandeering an ambulance to transport hurt "patients" during a trauma drill. She develops feelings for Alex who almost makes her lose her virginity when he tries to sleep with her but stops when she asks him to take things slow. When Jackson finds out about this he assaults Karev. Later, April agrees to go on a date with Dr. Robert Stark, believing him to have a good side. Her fellow residents make fun of her as they believe she will soon lose her virginity to Stark. This prompts her to tell Stark that, though she likes spending time with him, she considers him just a friend. This creates a coldness between them for some time. When Stark sees April cooking a special porridge for one of the African orphans Karev brought to the hospital, he gives her a glowing review to Dr. Hunt, who is one of the people in charge of deciding the next Chief Resident for the hospital. April also impresses Hunt by coming up with an idea of checklist while treating the patients, which would bring down the chances of human error. When she finds out that Cristina Yang breached the protocol by streamlining the checklist, April confronts her about it, but Cristina only tells her that if she cooperates with her, Cristina will put in a good word for her with Hunt. However, Cristina finds out that April told about her breach of protocol to Teddy Altman and Richard Webber. April later says to Cristina she cares about rules and steps so much because she once killed a woman as a result of having missed one simple step. In the season seven finale, she is ultimately granted the position of Chief Resident. April initially struggles with her new status as her fellow doctors do not listen to her and do not take her seriously. To make all fifth year residents perform well, Bailey assigns them a gunther. Arizona bets her money on April Kepner. However, Jackson emerges as the gunther, and April tells him she was merely his efficient assistant, and she does not possess leadership qualities. April tries assigning her fellow residents to teach the interns at the skills lab, but they refuse to work according to her schedule, and moreover, make themselves comfortable in her office, much to her dismay. She shows her contempt when Meredith suggests that whoever performs their solo surgery the worst should be given to do the skills lab for a month. In the same episode, she gives up her first solo surgery to assist Alex on his, due to the lack of an intern. When the surgery is unsuccessful despite all of Alex's efforts, she volunteers to talk to the patient, but Alex says he will do it. The fifth year residents gather in April's office to celebrate their first solo surgeries and decide who lost. Jackson suggests that Alex lost, since he screwed up a bowel resection. April defends Alex pointing out that Jackson never even performed his surgery, so he should be the loser by forfeit. She also suggests them competing for upcoming skills lab and all the residents agree.

As the end of the fifth year of residency is near, the surgical residents, including April, prepare for their boards exams for the different fellowships they plan on joining. The night before taking the exam, April loses her virginity to her best friend, Jackson Avery. This causes her to re-evaluate her faith during her Boards Exams which causes the examiners to feel uncomfortable. While freaking out in the men's restroom, she gets into a fight with Jackson which eventually leads them to having sex again. It is revealed that she is the only one out of the residents to have failed her Boards Exams. In the episode Migration, she is laid off by Owen Hunt who states that the hospital cannot afford to keep her (indirectly due to Alex demanding more money to remain at Seattle Grace) and that there were other, better candidates for her position. During the same episode, April receives phone calls from her other hospital choices retracting their offers due to her not being a Board certified surgeon. Although Jackson has true feelings for her, she pushes him away because she believes that Jackson feels guilty for having sex with her. In the season finale, April is still distraught over failing her boards but she is determined to be happy, and prepares for the dinner Richard annually organizes for the residents. Jackson reveals to April that he is taking the position at Tulane, despite feeling sick for leaving Seattle Grace Mercy West and her behind. The finale ends with her, Alex, Jackson, and Richard waiting for Meredith and Cristina who have had an aviation accident that killed Lexie. Months later, Hunt goes visit April who came back at her parents' farm and asks her to come back at the hospital realizing he made a mistake.

Development

Casting and creation

""I think it's a really fun character and, of course, getting to be on that show is wonderful and exciting for any actress in Hollywood."

Drew on her role in Grey's Anatomy

Drew was cast in late September 2009 and first appeared on the show in the fifth episode of the sixth season as one of the residents from the Mercy West Hospital after its merger with Seattle Grace. Her casting came after the absence of some of the central cast members, notably Katherine Heigl who was committed to her feature film project. She was originally contracted to guest star in a multi-episode story arc. However she was promoted to a series regular On June 9, 2010. Drew explained that she received the call for her promotion the morning after the sixth episode of season 6 was telecast on 29 October 2009 (in which her character was fired from the hospital after a medical mistake). She described the call as a "totally happy surprise".

Characterization

Drew's character has been called intelligent, hardworking, thorough and determined by Grey's Anatomy executives. But she is also considered vulnerable, insecure, sensitive and overly eager by her colleagues. Of the character, Drew said: "April is a very, very good doctor. She really knows what she's doing, she's worked really hard, and she certainly wants to do her best and stick around." In the seventh season, Kepner position as chief resident and struggle to get a handle on her fellow residents formed the central arc of her story line. Rhimes explained: "Watching April try to be in charge of Cristina and Alex and Jackson is a pretty impossible task, and it’s made for comedy, it’s one of the funniest things we’re working on this season." One of Kepner central characteristics is her religious believes, notably her virginity and her instance on saving herself for someone she truly loves.

Rhimes commented on Kepner's personality, stating: "I love the idea that there's this person that everybody kind of hates, yet they all have to deal with, [and even] lean on. She is one of them, even though they find her terribly annoying, and I think that that's sort of charming."

Reception

Carina MacKenzie of the Los Angeles Times initially liked Kepner writing: "April was my favorite intern when the Mercy Westers were first introduced. I loved her little book of platitudes and her refusal to cave to her own insecurities". However, she didn't appreciate the story of her having a crush on Derek Shepherd calling it "vomit", and added "she's been reduced to a 12-year-old with hearts in her eyes and a painful inability to be subtle." Mariella Mosthof from wetpaint stated: "Despite her obnoxious yet well-meaning tendencies, we briefly flirted with the idea of liking April's character last season, and it looks like there's plenty of opportunity for her to come back and charm us again yet again this time around." Kepner was included in TV Guide's list of The Most Loathed TV Characters. TV Fanatic included her in their list of Worst Character on TV. Christina Tran commented: "Could she be any more annoying?!?"

External links

• Template:Imdb character
• April Kepner at ABC.com