‘General Hospital’ Brings A Sweet Surprise During Mike’s Farewell & Fans Were Thrilled

General Hospital spoilers had suggested that Mike Corbin would pass away during Thursday’s episode and indeed he did. Viewers anticipated this would be an emotional show and that was proven to be the case when a surprise guest appearance occurred. Actress Alicia Leigh Willis reprised her role as Courtney Matthews and fans had a big reaction to this touching development.

During the September 17 episode, Sonny realized his father was probably holding on for a moment when he could pass away alone. Sonny presumed his dad wanted to spare him the pain of being present, so he chose to honor what he sensed were Mike’s wishes.

SheKnows Soaps noted Sonny would receive an unexpected gift during this episode and it seems this portion of the show was what that teaser referenced.

When Mike was alone, he suddenly seemed to regain consciousness. He looked and appeared grateful for someone in the room, who turned out to be Courtney.

She reached her hand out to her father and asked him to join her. At that point, Mike passed away.

“#GH really nice to see #alicialeighwillis on today. Perfect send off for Mike,” one General Hospital fan wrote on Twitter.

Courtney was Mike’s daughter, Sonny’s sister, and Spencer Cassadine’s mother. As longtime fans may remember, she was pregnant with Spencer during 2006 and became ill during the encephalitis epidemic that hit Port Charles. She died soon after the baby was born, but reappeared on General Hospital briefly in 2015 when she paid a ghostly visit to Spencer.

One frustration that viewers voiced on social media as this farewell played out was that some key loved ones seemed to have been left out.

Courtney’s name was mentioned, as was both Spencer’s and Kristina’s. However, Kristina never joined the family at General Hospital and Spencer wasn’t woven into any of this either. Now, at least, Courtney was incorporated in a powerful and touching way.

“Lovely surprise for Mike. I am not crying,” tweeted another viewer in response to Courtney’s appearance.

“So glad it was Courtney. That was a beautiful send off to a much loved character. Going to miss Mike,” another person remarked.

Other fans praised how realistic this ending was and quite a few noticed that a butterfly appeared right at the end as Mike passed as well. The butterfly topic had been mentioned several times over the course of the past few shows.

Brando mentioned it as a sign from a loved one who had passed and Josslyn said she had experienced that type of thing as well. To incorporate it as Mike left with Courtney was seen by many people as a nice touch.

“Oh @GeneralHospital, here goes today’s tears….. Perfect in having Courtney be the one to go for the walk with him,” shared someone else.

People had anticipated this would be a tearjerker and indeed it was. General Hospital spoilers suggest this death will have a lasting impact on Sonny and others in his inner circle for quite some time and everybody will likely want to be prepared for more tears in the days ahead.