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GENERAL HOSPITAL: Mike’s Family Says Their Goodbyes in Emotional Episode Filled With Touching Performances

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: ABC

For anyone who has been watching the emotional Alzheimer’s storyline play out on General Hospital, Wednesday’s episode was a key moment in the storytelling and for the Corinthos family.  To say that the cast delivered in this episode is an understatement; everyone had their moments, and of course, chief among them, Maurice Benard (Sonny).

Mike’s (Max Gail) life is coming to an end as his body is shutting down from the disease.  Stella (Vernee Watson) comes to Mike’s room at Turning Woods and tells Sonny that Mike is waiting for permission to let go.  She explains to Sonny that Mike is torn between this world and the afterlife.   Stella helps Sonny prepare for the final moments of Mike’s life, dimming the lights, giving Sonny ice chips to put on his father’s lips, and for Sonny to put on some of Mike’s favorite music – jazz.   She also gets Mike a blanket because he is getting cold.  Then in a touching moment played to perfection by Vernee Watson, Stella says her own goodbye to Mike and hugs Sonny and tells him how grateful she was to know Mike.

Carly (Laura Wright) had been by Sonny’s side every step of the way in the final days of Mike’s life.  At one point in Mike’s room with Sonny, she has a dream where Mike tells her she is his daughter.  It was another heartbreaking moment – this time played beautifully by Laura Wright.  Earlier, Michael (Chad Duell) said goodbye to his grandfather and Josslyn (Eden McCoy) had also come to Turning Woods, as has Brando (Johnny Wactor) to be there for the end of Mike’s life and to support Sonny

Sonny tells Mike, (who can hear, but cannot truly respond as the disease continues to shut down his body), that he has made peace with what went down between them when he was a child.  He tells Mike, “I just want you to go in peace and go with love.”  Later, Sonny had a recollection seeing his father pray in the back of the church when he was a child, which sparked an idea for him.   Jason (Steve Burton) and Sonny know that Mike wants to be forgiven for his sins.

Then in the tearjerker, Father Ramos arrives to bless Mike and cleanse him from all of his sins, as Sonny, Carly, Michael and Josslyn witness it.

Afterwards, Jason realizes that Mike probably does not want to die in front of Sonny and tells Sonny to take a break, but Sonny does not want to – so Jason whispers to Mike that he should not worry that he will take care of Sonny. The two hope Mike will meet up with Morgan in heaven.

At the end of the episode, alone with his father, Sonny tells Mike not to be afraid, or to worry about him, and then remembers the night Mike walked out on him and his mother when he was a kid.  He says he knows his father always loved him … maybe too much.  We fade to black.  Maurice Benard’s work was again outstanding throughout these moments, making Sonny’s life-long pain, and love for this father, palpable.

As someone who went through this horrible disease with his mother, I can say, that GH played the beats of the story to perfection, honoring those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and the family members they leave behind.

So, what did you think of this emotional episode of GH and the performances by the cast? Comment below.

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Well done GH. Sorry to hear of your mother as well Michael.

It’s time for Mike to pass and the family to mourn quickly. They’ve done a good job with the disease, but there’s been so much changed history in order to just create this storyline with MG as Mike. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s episodes were too much. All these “dreams”. No one had a relationship close to this with Mike. Had they not killed off most of the Quartermaines this would have been a great Alan Q story. But they created this story for a man who was not a good father and was an absent grandfather. And I’m not a Sonny hater, but they can spread the storyline love. He didn’t need this story. He has plenty of story.

Buzz was that GH was planning to do an Alzheimer’s story with Audrey in the late 90s. This was after BJ’s death and Monica’s breast cancer. Either the producers or network thought their were too many consecutive sad stories and pulled the brakes.

When you have a recast, as in the case of Max Gail, they couldn’t use real flashbacks. That led to the peculiar flash forwards.

Really odd that no one even mentioned Kristina. Will she become the new Chuck Cunningham or Judy Winslow?

It’s a shame that GH passed on the Alzheimer’s storyline with Audrey, as Rachel Ames was an outstanding actress in that iconic role, and she was given so little to do after the 1980s.

Mr. Fairman, first, my empathy for what you went through with your mother. I had the same thing happen with my favorite uncle who was like a father to me.

I totally agree that GH has done a wonderful job playing the beats in this story from start to finish. I shed so many tears along the way and it has been cathartic.

My hat’s off to the cast, crew, writers; everyone at GH for this emotionally charged and beautifully executed story. It will be one for the books.

Of course it was Courtney who came to escort Mike upstairs. Because Morgan ain’t up there… and he’s not down here either.

And they pretty much confirmed that…. just like they confirmed Jason wasn’t dead when all the Quartermaine ghosts assembled to usher AJ out of his mortal coil a few years back.

AJ didn’t go the same direction Mike did, but that’s a discussion for another time.

This story was well done all the way through, even if it was painful to watch, and that’s coming from an immortal cranky old bastard like the Devil himself.

Great work by all the actors, but is anyone else finding it hard to empathize with Sonny having this profound pain about his elderly father dying when we have seen him pull out a gun and shoot someone across the table for looking at him the wrong way? I think it would be a great plot point to acknowledge Sonny’s hypocrisy, since he doesn’t think twice about the suffering families of the people he’s killed, including his own son Michael’s real father, AJ’s. I’m finding the focus on Sonny’s pain (without any insight about the irony) to be a hard sell.

That’s it in a nutshell, Francine. Everyone should find it hard to empathize with Sonny, given his abundant history of crime, abuse, and murder. The powers that be have tried so hard over many years to humanize this murderer, to get the viewer to like him, to cheer for him, to feel his pain. And it’s a hard sell, given the reasons you’ve outlined.

The GH braintrust have repeatedly pushed other great characters (actors) aside, rewritten history, and thrown away any moral compass to focus on the despicable character of Sonny. The Alzheimer’s disease storyline was fabricated solely for the purpose of glorifying Sonny and netting Emmy gold for his portrayer.

Francine…you and James make really good points. Many are probably the reason I muted most of Sonny and Carly during the Mike saga.

Thank you, Rose. I concur with your moments of mutings!

From beginning to end, this has been the best storyline GH has done in many years. As someone that has lost several close family members to Alzheimer’s Disease, they told it as raw and real as it gets. The acting, the writing, everything has been top notch. Mike’s death today, having Courtney be the one to come get him, was the perfect ending. Much like when they had Lila come to get Edward when he passed.

Just give Max Gail another Emmy. His portrayal of Mike over the past couple of years, playing the realty of Alzheimer’s Disease, has been one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen, not just in soaps but in television period. I wish he could stay on the show forever. But unfortunately, this was the way the story was always going to end from the day they started it, because there are no happy, miracle soap endings when it comes to Alzheimer’s.

Max will have more gold to put on his mantle above the fireplace, for sure! And my friend CC, I hope you can tip your hat to the wonderful job Maurice has down!

My father died from this,,,

The biggest flaw in how this story was presented in the final stretches was the absence of most of Mike’s grandchildren. Yeah, Michael & Josslyn were there. Ironically neither of whom are bio-related to Mike.

Morgan is still presumed dead. We all know he isn’t, but it’s a valid excuse since he’s probably got amnesia or whatever.

Dante’s out of the country, but somebody could have told him what was going on with Mike a little earlier than they did. Why didn’t Olivia mention this in her emotional plea to him through the locked door, for example? Maybe he’ll make it home for the funeral, since he was last seen asking about that “new assignment” the WSB wanted for him back in Port Charles.

Avery?? Yeah, she might be too young yet to really understand what’s going on, but I think she should have had a chance to say goodbye to Grandpa. And of course, baby Donna… who they seem to have forgotten about entirely. At least she’s excused, probably not having any memories of Mike at all.

But where in Hell’s name were Kristina & Spencer? Krissy seems to have dropped off the planet entirely since the COVID hiatus. Spencer’s mom can pop in as a ghost to lead Mike “upstairs” but he can’t bother to show up himself??

Overall, a very well written story. But those are some big holes in how it was presented.

The cast was absolutely amazing!

Max Gail : Mike Corbin’ February, 2018 – September, 2020.

had it not been for – you –

you are a stand alone act.. you could be any one’ : dad, grandpa, uncle, friend,

I stress : ANY ONE

thereby: you made the Corinthos’

all of the Corinthos’ family benefited… you were milked for their advantage

You are a riveting Man

struck by your presence

STANDING OVATION

Jason: dumb

Patrick…It wasn’t always an easy story to watch, especially since you knew what the final outcome would be. So I agree Standing Ovation to Max for making it feel real, personal and even healing to viewers. And as I write this sadness for Ruth Bader Ginsberg who also died today and will be missed as an example of an incredible life well lived despite many health problems through out her life.

The acting was awesome.
The writing stunk.
It was an overkill of a slow death.
Mikes death was a soapy campy tear-jerker=a 7.
Max/Mike– 0ooh lordy he is a treasure..
Too sad he was brought into GH to die.
He would have been a loved character for years.
Perhaps we’ll be seeing him again in ghost form.
Max=gold– I will miss him 🙁

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s’ Tabyana Ali on a Potential Kai/Trina/Gio/Emma Quadrangle, ‘I Don’t Think That’s Impossible, But That Would Be Messy’

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Kai, Trina, Gio, Emma

On recent episodes of General Hospital, music executive Simon Craft (Grady Eldridge) has been pushing and demanding that Trina (Tabyana Ali) and Gio (Giovanni Mazza) play up a faux relationship when they are onstage, or in front of the camera, to add to their allure as new recording artists to his label.

Simon knows full well that Gio is dating Emma (Braedyn Bruner), and Trina is with Kai (Jens Austin Astrup). It was apparent from the start, that Kai seemed a bit more comfortable with the “arrangement” understanding this was for business, and not pleasure, while Emma initially didn’t like the idea.

Now with Trina’s stalker story in full gear, and as fans eventually find out who is completely obsessed with the budding young singer, while initially seeming to be Simon that would seem to be too easy of a choice. But is GH toying with the idea that somehow Gio and Trina get stuck in a situation and one thing leads to another and they develop feelings one another, too?

Simon with Trina and Gio

Photo: ABC

SIMON’S MANUEVERS

In addition, after Curtis (Donnell Turner) and Sidwell’s (Carlo Rota) beatdown at Pentonville, where everyone is accusing Sonny (Maurice Benard) of ordering the deed, will this find Gio and Trina on the same side, believing it’s Sonny, or will Gio end up sticking by his grandfather when by week’s end he was also questioning if he was telling the truth?

During a new conversation on the Michael Fairman Channel, Tabyana Ali shared her thoughts that if Gio and Trina were pushed closer together, what that would mean for their relationships with Emma and Kai, respectively.

Emma and Gio

Photo: ABC

MUSICAL CHAIRS?

Pondering the soap staple, Tabyana exclaimed, “Oh, my goodness. Who knows? I mean, quite honestly, I don’t think it’s it’s impossible, but, oh, wow! That would be messy!” Ali added that its something that could be quite intriguing to play. “There’s a part of me that wants it to happen just to see, how does it play out? Right? Then, there’s another part of me that’s like, “You can’t do that to Emma and Kai.” That’s so wrong,” believed Ali.

However, Tabyana did admit a complicated love story wasn’t far from her mind. “Originally, I wanted something like a quadrangle.  I really wanted that to happen. And if this is a moment where it could happen, I think that would be fun too.”

When asked to tease what’s coming up for Trina in the next several weeks, she offered up three words. Things for her will “(get) Suspicious, (be ) spontaneous, (and) very dangerous.”

So, do you think the GH writing team is teeing up a situation where Trina and Gio become more than friends and musical artists together? Would you be down for it, or be against it? do you like Emma with Gio and Kai with Trina? Share your thoughts via the comment section, nd in case you missed it, check our chat with Tabyana below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Sonny Tells Dante, “I Don’t Want a Son Like You,” While Michael Tells Brook Lynn to Bide Her Time Till Chase and Willow Have an Affair

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Sonny, Dante, Michael, Brook Lynn General Hospital

On the Thursday, October 1 episode of General Hospital, both Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) had some things to say and what they had to say didn’t go over well with whom they were talking to!

Sonny had a confrontation with his son, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), while Michael leveled with Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) over Chase (Josh Swickard).

GH is setting up a scenario where everyone is going to make it look like Sonny was responsible for having Sidwell (Carlo Rota) beat up in Pentonville; while viewers already know Ava (Maura West) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) were behind it.

Sonny and Dante

Courtesy/ABC

A VISIT WITH DAD

Now, Dante comes to Sonny’s house. He wants to know straight up from his dad if he ordered the attack at Pentonville. Sonny flatly denies any culpability or responsibility, but Dante refuses to believe him.

Dante informs Sonny he has video footage of Sully and Vito at the prison. Sonny explains to Dante he doesn’t know why Sully beat up both Curtis and Dante. Things escalated when Sonny was deeply hurt that Dante refused to believe him. Dante says he was disappointed that his father didn’t respect him enough to be truthful with him!

Sonny asks Dante to consider that he was being set up. He says all he did was to tell Vito to instruct Sully to keep a watchful eye on Sidwell, not to harm him. No matter what Sonny said, Dante continued hammering him with how he knew deep down, even though he said he left the mob, he had to finish off Sidwell for himself.

Next, Sonny explains everything he has ever done was to provide for and to protect his family. Dante fired back that he doesn’t want to deal anymore with Sonny’s half-baked truths. As the two men argue, Gio (Giovanni Mazza) shows up at Sonny’s front door and overhears Sonny losing his temper and shouting at Dante, “Get out of my house! I don’t want a son like you!”  The scenes featured an excellent performance by Maurice Benard.

Michael and Brook Lynn

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL THE MANIPULATOR

While this is going down, outside the Quartermaine boathouse, Brook Lynn opens up to Michael about living at the Q’s with Chase being there, since he only came back due to legal advice from his lawyer, Monet Mitchell (Blythe Howard).

Brook Lynn questioned whether they should get legally separate. Michael insisted that would be a big mistake. When she asks why, Michael tells Brook Lynn to bide her time until Chase and Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) have an affair; then she’d have full custody of Phoebe.

An angered Brook Lynn pushed Michael into the water and accuses him of moving Willow back into the gatehouse with intent on putting Chase and Willow in closer proximity and sacrificing Brook Lynn’s family in the process.  As the two cousins bicker, Chase shows up asking Brook Lynn if she is OK. Michael punctuates their talk with “You know, I’m right.”

CURTIS FIGURES OUT A WAY TO GET OUT OF THE SLAMMER

At GH, Willow visits Curtis (Donnell Turner) in his hospital room. Curtis wants Willow to get him pardoned and keep him out of jail, and in return, he will help her nail Sonny.

Next, Willow tells Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) she wants Curtis held for observation for three more days. He agrees to do so under one condition, that she understands that he may need to call in a favor from a congresswoman.

So, what did you think of how Dante accused his father and refused to believe Sonny’s answers? Is this the end of their father and son relationship for good? Is Michael the most manipulative person of all, except for Willow? Do the two deserve each other? Do you want Chase and Willow to have an affair? And what of Curtis? Does he have many redeeming qualities left? Share your thoughts via the comment section,  but first check out the talk Michael had with Brook Lynn.

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General Hospital

GH Alum Tajh Bellow and Y&R Alum Loren Lott Star in New Tiktok and Microdrama ‘Love Island’ Spoof

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Tajh Bellow and Loren Lott

Two soap opera alums very familiar to fans of General Hospital and The Young and the Restless are paired together in a new short-form digital series from none other than Issa Rae’s production entity HOORAE Digital.

Look for Tajh Bellow (ex-TJ Ashford, GH)) and Loren Lott (ex-Ana Hamilton, Y&R) as part of the cast of  The Compatibility Experiment, premiering on October 14, 2026, exclusively on TikTok and its companion microdrama platform, PineDrama.

In the video teaser, it appears that Bellow and Lott play a couple, Kelvin and Camila, set in a Love Island reality show-esque environment trying to win the one million dollar cash prize, only what could go wrong?

The Compatibility Experiment

Photo: HOORAE

The Compatibility Experiment loglines share that it brings a fast-paced, relationship-focused reality check—much like Love Island with a twist. The show takes a participant’s current relationship, introduces them to a potentially more compatible partner, and forces them to navigate the differences with life-changing money on the line.

The new series is part of a groundbreaking content deal between HOORAE Digital and TikTok to develop premium short-form storytelling. The ensemble cast also features; Ayona, Reggie Luck, JaNa Craig, Tosin Morohunfola, Jessica Jacoby, Georgia Warner, and Nick Cassidy.

General Hospital fans know Tajh Bellow for his performances as TJ Ashford, and who earned two Daytime Emmy nominations along the way during his run. Bellow took over the role in 2018 and last appeared on the ABC daytime drama series in December of 2024.

Loren Lott first appeared as Devon’s (Bryton James) sister Ana Hamilton on The Young and the Restless from 2018 to 2019; making a brief return in 2024. She has continued to perform on the stage and screen with recent credits including: Bel-Air, Cherish the Day, and All American: Homecoming.

Check out the trailer for The Compatibility Experiment below and let us know what you think of its concept and if you are glad to see Tajh and Loren again? Hoping they might return to daytime in their GH and Y&R roles at some point in the future? Weigh-in via the comment section.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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