Apritello pairing confirmed? Storyboard pics!!

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

I actually think Raphael has been the best for Donny in everything to do with April. He doesn't sugar coat it, and it shouldn't be sugar coated,

Raph points out the reality of the situation. Donnie's relationship with April is viewed as a delusion by the others. It is a happy delusion, but it is still a delusion. Leo and Mikey don't say anything because they know slapping Donnie with a heavy dose of reality will only cause Donnie to pursue April more to prove them wrong.

Raph on the other hand feels that no matter how you look at it, Donnie is going to get hurt. And even if the relationship does by chance happen, they still have realistic things such as the fact they can't have children, or the fact that Donnie will outlive April by decades will also hurt Donnie in the future.

Originally Posted by Warhorse

when Donny learns of Casey Jones and April for the first time in the park, who was the first one to give Donny a comforting arm on the shoulder and a nice little brotherly pep talk? Raph.

Raph never did that. He didn't know about April being with Casey or even that Donnie had seen them together until Donnie says "April's probably in the park...on a date." And admits he had been spying on them.

The only thing Raph comforts Donnie about was having to hurt Timothy in order to prevent him from hurting April. He puts arm around Donnie's shoulders and says "You did what you had to do."

I think you were meaning the part in the beginning of "Follow the Leader" where Raph tells Donnie not to get so bent out of shape about April, because she'll come back eventually. Even then it's not all that comforting. It's more like a "Suck it up and get over it" statement one would make when they are fussing about stubbing their toe.

Originally Posted by Warhorse

Who was the one that did something about Donny making a fool of himself in front of April when she was bitching about Karai? Raph.

First off April wasn't really bitching about Karai. Donnie had been intending to say something along the lines of "...we could use another Kunoichi on our side." Or maybe "....We could use an experienced Kunoichi on our side."
However his statement comes out as "We could use an actual Kunoichi." And April was pointing out she was being trained as a Kunoichi so they already had a Kunoichi on their side. And Donnie's attempts to explain his statement were making things worse.

Originally Posted by Warhorse

Who was the one that gloated Donny's heroism to April to cheer him up? Raph!

That was actually an apology on Raph's part. Earlier in the episode Raph had told Donnie his attempts to impress April were so pathetic or as he put it "Sadorable" that he wanted no part in it. So when Raph was giving Donnie all the credit for the mission as his way of saying "I'm sorry about what I said."

Originally Posted by Warhorse

I think Raph's approach to how Donny is dealing with April is the best one, it's honest, but he is quick to offer a shoulder to lean on to when Donny gets his heart broken, and he's the first one trying to help Donny look good in front of April. I don't recall either Leo or Mikey saying how awesome Donny is to April.

That is somewhat true. In Mutation Situation he stops Donnie from following April, because she wasn't in the mood to listen at that point. So he was saying "Give her her space."

Beyond that, you don't see Raph actually comforting Donnie. Nor do we see Leo or Mikey offering comfort as well.

Everyone was treating the situation with April's departure in a "Let's ignore it, maybe it'll go away on it's own." way of thinking Because they need to focus on finding the mutagen, and also they really don't know how to help their suffering brother at this time, so we're not going to.