General Hospital (GH) spoilers tease that new episodes are beginning on Monday, August 3rd, which is great news for GH fans but bad news for Mike Corbin (Max Gail). The return to new GH episodes will be bittersweet for a lot of GH viewers who are anticipating a swift demise for a beloved character on the show – Mike Corbin.
When the action left off before the shutdown, Mike wasn’t doing well at all, as he was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Medical staff were talking with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) about the urgent need for a DNR, so Mike’s death is approaching quickly.
Well, there has been a lot of talk amongst fans about whether Mike could somehow be cured or whether the entire disease sequence could end up being some sort of dream.
Of course, it’s natural for fans to want to conjure up some way that a favorite actor can remain on the show. Mike is one of those very endearing characters – flawed, but with a big heart – and it’s sad to think about the demise of his character and the departure of Max Gail from canvas.
But it appears that there won’t be any way to extend Mike’s stay on the show, and that means that Sonny, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright), and their family will have to soon cope with the loss of Mike from their lives.
There are some good reasons for this, and they were expressed nicely on Max Gail’s official Facebook fan page and by Max himself on Twitter (see below). This is a page that Max himself is quite active on and is administered by someone close to him named Sue.
Sue created a post in which she shared that while it will be hard for Max to separate the show, it’s really necessary at this point in order to honor the story that Max and the rest of the cast, crew, and writers have worked so hard on.
Sue said the following: “I’ve seen a lot of talk on the General Hospital groups and Twitter about how the writers should keep Mike around by finding a miracle cure or having it be just a dream Sonny or Carly had.”
Sue continued: “While I don’t want to say goodbye to Mike either, I think (and I’m pretty sure Max agrees with me) doing something like that, after two years of this incredible story line that has made us all so emotionally invested – and even more importantly, that has brought such awareness to Alzheimer’s and given a much needed and deserved voice to both Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers – just wouldn’t be fair.”
Sue ended by saying: “Max, Maurice, and the writers have put too much work into this story line, and too much heart and soul to have it dismissed as just a dream, and as someone who has lost loved ones to the disease, it would be cruel for the miracle cure real Alzheimer’s patients and their families know they’ll never get to suddenly shows up for Mike. It’s important, I think, to keep it real, no matter how much it will hurt to say goodbye.”
More recently, Sue has posted updates saying that Max has been back filming very recently, and that we’d “better make sure we’re all stocked up on tissues.”
It definitely sounds like the storyline will be wrapping up in short order on the show, with Mike’s eventual death. At this point, the real mystery is how it will all unfold and how Sonny will be emotionally impacted, most likely by his decision where the DNR is concerned.
It sounds like we’re in for some heartbreaking and beautifully done scenes in the near future, as Sonny and fans say their final goodbyes to Mike. Stay tuned to the ABC soap and don’t forget to check CDL often for the latest General Hospital spoilers, daily episode recaps, and news.