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Grey's Anatomy Sneak Peek: Will Jackson and April Rekindle Their Romance?
Sarah Drew weighs in
Thursday's episode of Grey's Anatomy finds April (Sarah Drew) and Jackson (Jesse Williams) taking a trip to Awkward Town when Catherine (Debbie Allen) sends them away to treat a young patient who needs a complicated throat transplant.
In actuality, the two docs are traveling to Montana. And in the episode, which ABC and the show's stars are dubbing "Japril the Sequel," things start to go downhill when Jackson has a hard time focusing on the task at hand because he can't stop thinking about the fact that - surprise! - his biological father lives in the area.
"When [April] discovers that his father is there in Montana and that his father is the one that is distracting him and throwing him for a loop and causing him to act strangely, she knows exactly what he needs because she knows him so well," Drew tells TVGuide.com. "She knows that he needs to go talk to his father. He needs to have that interaction. He needs to open that door... maybe close that door. But something needs to happen."
Grey's Anatomy: The chaos at Grey Sloan gets personal
"The tactic that she uses, I think, is pretty brilliant because she makes it about the work," Drew points out. "She doesn't make it about, 'I care about you and I see you're hurting, and you really need to do this, and this is going to help you. I'm telling you to do this because I love you.' I think all that stuff is in the subtext, but I think what he needs in this moment is for someone to kick his ass and say, 'You're not doing your job well. You have to do this in order to do your job well, so shut up and go do it.' And that's exactly what she says and it leads to really great results."
Is it possible that "Japril the Sequel" will lead to Jackson reconnecting with not only his father, but also his ex-wife? Fans will have to wait until Thursday to find out - but according to Drew, the episode solidifies that, if nothing else, Jackson and April will continue to be there for each other to lean on, despite all their previous ups and downs.
"It really is more about Jackson than it is about Japril, but it is about April kind of showing up for Jackson in a way that she really never has so far in their relationship. That's the part of 'Japril the Sequel' that I love the most," Drew tells TVGuide.com. "She really just shows up for him over and over and over again and doesn't need him to show up for her in any way. And that is just a true mark of what love is supposed to look like."
Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.