Dex/April

[MACYLIGHTFOOT]

I think the writers shot themselves in the foot by breaking them up, I don't think many people were clamouring for them to get back together by the end and even though they've still got their fans, I think the break showed they can work perfectly well apart.I refuse to believe Heath was just using April, I prefer to think he wanted to be the person she needed but couldn't manage it.

I don't entirely agree with that. I think Heath was trying with April because he was upset that Bianca had stayed with Liam and didn't see him as worth anything more than a bit of a fling. I think he was trying to be slightly better with April to prove to himself more than anything that he was capable of being in a relationship and considering peoples feelings and basically being a grown up. The fact that he chose to do it with the little sister of the woman he supposedly loved was a stupid idea and, as I said before, has ruined Heath/Bianca for me and has tainted Dex/April too.

When Dex/April were broken up Dex was pretty much the same person he was before, he was trying to help Dallas and her son, he made friends with Lottie immediately, was supportive of Indy when she and Romeo broke up, he was generally just the nice guy he always was. April on the other hand turned into a nympho (Heath is hot, I can't blame her) but he behaviour seemed to come completely out of the blue. She hurt Dex, she almost destroyed her relationship with Bianca, put additional stress on the Liam/Bianca relationship, and generally seemed like a completely different character for a while. Then they wanted her back with Dex and all of a sudden we're supposed to believe she's back to the girl she was before they broke up. Meh.

Another thing that annoys me about nearly all the couples on H&A is once they break up they have barely any interactions at all until they want them to get back together and then all of a sudden they remember each other exists. I think would have liked to have seen Dex and April rebuild the strong friendship they had before they got together the first time and go from there rather than have them just get back together like that.

[Red Ranger 1]

That's an interesting point and your view of Heath might well be right.I have to say I would much rather see Heath/April than Heath/Bianca or April/Dex but that's just my personal opinion and obviously someone involved in the show and quite a few people watching it see it differently.It is slightly annoying that April stated she was in love with Heath and now she's trying to make out she was in love with Dexter all along.(Rhiannon Fish seemed to go one step further in interviews and try to make out April was in love with Dexter from the moment she arrived in town, even though they never had anything to do with each other back then.)

As I intimated in my earlier post, I liked Dexter in the first half of the year but I haven't been too keen on him since he's started hanging around April again.I accept this is because I don't like them together but I've found him to be a selfish, shallow jerk:He hurt Lottie after lying to her to spend time with April, he seemed more concerned with his own feelings and getting the knock back than the stuff April had to deal with.As for April, they seem to change her personality whenever it suits them.When she first came in, she wasn't exactly a nympho but she was confident, she had strong opinions about things, she had the whole environmental belief, she was well travelled and used to looking after herself and surviving on her own.Then they paired her with Dex and suddenly turned her into a shy geek who couldn't get a date with anyone else, was a virgin(especially annoying for Xapril fans, it feels as though half the writers want to pretend they never dated)and completely forgot about the environmental angle which was her sole defining characteristic, leaving her as a rather dull non-entity of a character.It didn't help that the "geek" thing was pretty much an informed attribute:Unlike Dexter and Lottie, she very rarely says or does anything geeky and calling her "quiet" or "passive" might have been more accurate.I liked her a lot more when she was with Heath because it seemed like she was more like her old self and had gained a bit of attitude and independence after too long being Dex's shadow.And let's face it, she hasn't exactly slid back now she's hanging around Dex, she's pretty much acting like a nympho now.

[John]

That's an interesting point and your view of Heath might well be right.I have to say I would much rather see Heath/April than Heath/Bianca or April/Dex but that's just my personal opinion and obviously someone involved in the show and quite a few people watching it see it differently.It is slightly annoying that April stated she was in love with Heath and now she's trying to make out she was in love with Dexter all along.(Rhiannon Fish seemed to go one step further in interviews and try to make out April was in love with Dexter from the moment she arrived in town, even though they never had anything to do with each other back then.)

As I intimated in my earlier post, I liked Dexter in the first half of the year but I haven't been too keen on him since he's started hanging around April again.I accept this is because I don't like them together but I've found him to be a selfish, shallow jerk:He hurt Lottie after lying to her to spend time with April, he seemed more concerned with his own feelings and getting the knock back than the stuff April had to deal with.As for April, they seem to change her personality whenever it suits them.When she first came in, she wasn't exactly a nympho but she was confident, she had strong opinions about things, she had the whole environmental belief, she was well travelled and used to looking after herself and surviving on her own.Then they paired her with Dex and suddenly turned her into a shy geek who couldn't get a date with anyone else, was a virgin(especially annoying for Xapril fans, it feels as though half the writers want to pretend they never dated)and completely forgot about the environmental angle which was her sole defining characteristic, leaving her as a rather dull non-entity of a character.It didn't help that the "geek" thing was pretty much an informed attribute:Unlike Dexter and Lottie, she very rarely says or does anything geeky and calling her "quiet" or "passive" might have been more accurate.I liked her a lot more when she was with Heath because it seemed like she was more like her old self and had gained a bit of attitude and independence after too long being Dex's shadow.And let's face it, she hasn't exactly slid back now she's hanging around Dex, she's pretty much acting like a nympho now.

Interesting post RR1. I really do think they have lost track of April's character. Early in the piece she had a degree of sophistication due to her travel and upbringing and could be quite idealistic if at times misguided.

Somehow that sophistication has deserted her and so has her idealism. The transformation to "nympho" as you so rightly describe it seems to have been without a real explanation on screen anyway as to why that had happened. I don't buy that an encounter with Heath would be the entire explanation for this.

To me April's journey in recent time s has been quite random and without any defining consistent character.

[Red Ranger 1]

I think you can rationalise the changes in April's character if you try hard enough:Her OCD left her more subdued, being rejected by her father caused her to turn away from environmentalism, her disastrous attempt to lose her virginity with Dex prompted her to take a more casual attitude to sex...It's just a shame that much of what made her character unique when she came in has gone and that the show isn't willing to fully explore what's happened to her.

[Jen]

Okay, so wow. I've really enjoyed reading some long and thoughtful posts about this couple, but now I'm feeling the pressure to contribute and make it make sense.

I was a Dex/April fan the first time around. It took me a while to get there because Dex essentially made April cheat on Xavier (but as was mentioned, it seems even the show is ignoring that they ever happened), but they were cute and Dex was there for April when she was considered the "outcast" and Dex didn't really have any other friends. So they got together, and I really liked that they could have intelligent conversations and Dex could be funny and April would laugh and all that sickeningly sweet stuff that happens when couples first get together. I tried to resist, but in the end, I was a fan.

Then, they broke up, which still bothers me because there was no real reason for that to happen. Except that the writer's wanted it to appear that sex was the most fundamental thing in a relationship and if April and Dex weren't doing it RIGHT NOW then they should break up. Yes, there was the whole Dallas thing, but that wasn't Dex's fault, and Apri over-reacted and thuys begins the April Scott Downward Spiral. From that moment April wanted to shed the "good girl" image. She slept with Heath (a lot, arguably also to get back at Bianca), and treated everyone else like they were in the wrong. Meanwhile, Dex was being a prefectly normal and caring human being by helping out Dallas. No romance necessary.

I believe that Dex still had feelings for April after they broke up. Mostly because April did the breaking and Dex didn't actually cheat on her on purpose. He didn't set out to hurt her, and if that moment with Dallas hadn't happened they would still have been together. April, on the other hand, has changed. She isn't the same as she was pre-breakup. She now usees sex to get what she wants, and yes, Dex is a teenage boy, we get that, but there was more to their relationship the first time around. I don't altogether buy that they are "the love's of each other's lives", not in the same way you could say about Robbie/Tasha, Jack/Martha, even Aden/Belle. When those pairings were together they made each other better. They worked better as a couple than when they were apart, and that can't be said for Dex and April. Dex is just as awesome and sweet when he's single than when he's with April; he doesn't need her the way the show is trying to make us thing he does.

Sigh. I can't actually remember what the point of this post was, except that I'm trying to figure out how I feel about Dex and April as a couple. I don't honestly see Dex/Lottie as a viable, long-term option; they just weren't that interesting together, and Dallas or Adrian aren't coming back, and I did prefer them as friends. The Dex/April pairing has it's moments where I'm very content to happily sigh at the screen and watch them be adorable and have moments where Dex just wants to make April happy. Those are the moments I choose to focus on, rather than the ones were Dex is clearly putting more effort into the relationship and we're expected to believe that they are going to run off into the sunset and live happily every after (until someone better comes along).

[LauraPhilly!!]

I don't altogether buy that they are "the love's of each other's lives", not in the same way you could say about Robbie/Tasha, Jack/Martha, even Aden/Belle. When those pairings were together they made each other better. They worked better as a couple than when they were apart, and that can't be said for Dex and April. Dex is just as awesome and sweet when he's single than when he's with April; he doesn't need her the way the show is trying to make us thing he does.

Jen, I absolutely agree with you! It's odd, you took almost the exact words out of my head!

Dex, just from his upbringing and the way that he is, has always been a more stable character than April. He has such a caring nature and is so sweet, and she just seemed to forget all that when she saw Dallas kissing him. Maybe this is just my opinion, my kissing isn't even cheating!! It was just a kiss so April absolutely overreacted then by breaking-up with him and sleeping with Heath! Heath of all people. She would have been a hypocrite anyway for just sleeping with Xavier, but with Heath?!

I would like to say that Dex is meant to be with someone else but if so, she hasn't turned up yet!

[Red Ranger 1]

I should probably stop sticking my tupen'orth in this but...I can't view Dexter as the innocent that people seem to see him as in all this, for all the quirkiness he can behave just as badly as April.I can see the logic of people trying to argue "kissing isn't cheating" but I don't agree, especially when it's all a couple having been doing anyway:If you follow the logic, you might as well say "kissing isn't dating" and Dexter and April were just friends.He started the tone of the whole thing off by betraying and hurting Xavier and making a play for his friend's girlfriend.Then he hurt April by kissing Dallas(she might have initiated it but he didn't push her away)and compounded the fault by letting everyone think they'd slept together:Overreaction or not, the way April shut herself away in her room in tears showed how devastated she was at her fantasy being shattered.And I was disappointed with the way that he went from being a brilliant boyfriend to Lottie(I loved the way he stood up to Harvey in order to help her, especially when it came so soon after their brilliantly awkward and sweet "dinner with the girlfriend's family")to treating her like an inconvenience who stopped him getting back with April in the space of about a week.(Not to mention attacking Xavier at the school formal, when Xavier had done absolutely nothing wrong and was being a far better friend to Dexter than Dexter had been to him, out of jealousy.Which somehow Xavier ended up apologising to him for while Dexter continued to act like a jerk.)

I don't have a problem with April sleeping with Heath or planning to sleep with Xavier when they were all single, that definitely wasn't cheating and it's not her fault Dexter was having trouble getting over her.I do have a problem with her thinking she can just click her fingers and get Dexter back when she's run out of other options but ah well, if he's happy to be treated like that and she's happy to be the focus of his obsessions, that's their lookout.Guess we'll all just have to wait and see how it plays out.

[Jen]

^ I'm a Dex fan, so I'm happily going to admit that makes me biased. I want Dex to be happy, I'm willing to excuse certain things that he does, I'm going to focus on his wit and humour rather than the fact that he kissed another girl. Yes, that happened, but Dex didn't seek it out -- he didn't intend to hurt April, and I'm not saying that makes it okay, but I don't think Dex having one kiss with Dallas evokes the kind of response that it did from April -- A I-need-to-lose-my-virginity-ASAP response; where she tried it with Xavier and then finally, Heath.

I think what we are all discussing here is consistency, and it's not just in this couple or these characters that this is lacking. The show is wildly inconsistent -- in it's standards on what is right or wrong, or how characters respond to certain situations -- and it tries to pass it off as 'adding drama', when all it does is treat the audience like they're idiots. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but I get the feeling we, as an audience, are meant to see that April and Dex are supposed to be together forever and forsaking all others and never be tempted to cheat on eachother and if that happens it's the end of the world. And as far as I can tell, no one is buying that.

[Red Ranger 1]

^I agree Dexter didn't mean to hurt April but I don't really think she meant to hurt him either, despite people at the time and since trying to make out sleeping with Heath was all about getting back at him.It seemed more that she'd got herself all worked up for a special night with Dexter, where they'd lose their virginity together, only for it to end in disaster and her to get hurt, so she decided "I'm not going to go through all that again, I'm just going to do it."I don't think Dexter really came into her thinking, in a positive or negative way, as evidenced by the way she barely registered his "Let's be friends" speech because she was too busy thinking about Heath.Which, I agree, does make the whole "i love you, I probably always have" stuff that the show practically insists we should find sweet and adorable rather hard to swallow.

[--HAA]

I absolutely adore April and Dex. I'd really like to see these two last and not get broken up.

I think they are perfect for eachother. Dex has always been dorky and cute and smart ect.. But April has always accepted and loved him the way he is and that is exactly the same for Dex loving April for who she is.

I dont think this is a spoiler anymore, but just in case this is my warning here so dont read below if you dont want to know..

When April had found out dex was involved in the car accident, those scenes touched my heart and made me absolutely sook like a baby. It showed how much she cares for Dex and how much she is in love with him. Those scenes were so emotional for April, but it did show how much she loves him.

I think that they are a well-suited couple and are perfect for eachother.

I love them together and I'd hate it if they broke up or were with anyone else.