In April 2020, this column debuted talking about what a flop character GH‘s Michael was and how he could be fixed. One of the options I suggested was resting the character and then either Chad Duell returns in the role or they recast. Five years later, that’s what happened. Chad chose to leave and a few months later Rory Gibson debuted in the role. The question is: Has GH finally fixed Michael with the casting of Rory Gibson?
Before Rory
Nothing really got better for Michael after I wrote that column. His pairing with Sasha had some fans, but not quite as much as his pairing with Sabrina which was his most popular pairing during his tenure. They moved him on to Willow and that relationship was centered around their kids to the point that it was off putting.
They tried to reheat their nachos by having Michael hate Sonny again. It didn’t have the same impact as the first go around since it was about Sonny being with Nina and not his mother Carly. It felt pathetic and like something you’d see on The Bold and the Beautiful. A grown man being pissy that his father doesn’t want to pork his mother anymore isn’t cute.
Though before Chad Duell’s exit as Michael, they did set the stage for major drama. Willow had banged her husband’s uncle Drew and Michael had gotten Sasha pregnant. Michael was also badly burned from an explosion meant for Sonny and was shipped off to Germany to recover. This was really fertile ground for a setup for a recast and why the show couldn’t wait for Chad to want to return. GH needed Michael.
Cartoon Wolf’s Eyes Bulge Out And Tongue Wags
I will never forget the day Rory Gibson debuted as Michael at the Nurses Ball. Soap Twitter was positively feral. The last time I saw Soap Twitter that horny was when Thomas and Hope on B&B had sex for a whole week in 2023. And all Rory as Michael had to do was strut in wearing a tux and walk out with Wiley like a man.
From there, Rory proceeded to be in every episode for a few weeks. Fans weren’t just impressed with Rory’s looks and sex appeal. He hit it out of the park with his acting. He also felt like a leading man which had been a problem for years with Michael. Chad’s Michael was overshadowed by Carly and Sonny most of the time which made it hard to take him seriously. Rory’s Michael just slid into being one of the leads of GH ease.
He also felt like everything fans had wanted for the character for years. The dark prince who takes charge of his life and isn’t a passive character who just lets mommy make his decisions for him. Fans have really taken to Rory’s broody and intense portrayal of Michael.
Daddy, Can We Keep Him?
Soaps have a history of firing successful recasts because the previous actor can’t get another job so they call the show up and get their job back. Ask Davetta Sherwood and Sabine Singh. I do worry that Chad will need money for another non-legally binding steampunk wedding and Rory will get booted. That would be a huge mistake. If Chad ever wants a soap gig again, he should go knock on another show’s door. He can be the next Noah when Y&R fires Lucas Adams in eight months.
Spine Turned To Jelly
There is one big problem with Michael since he returned: He was too nice and permissive with Sasha about their daughter Daisy. This pretty much sums up every conversation they had this year:
Sasha: “You have no rights to Daisy. You aren’t even on the birth certificate! She’s my baby! Not yours!”
Michael: “You are such a great mother and I completely agree. You have been making such great choices like taking money from a man that kidnapped you and letting everyone think my hitman uncle was the father when you didn’t want the baby connected to the mob. You’re so wise!”
Sasha: “Yes, I’m a wise single mother. I’m so strong and a girlboss. I shall now take Daisy and return eventually with a new face or maybe this face if Sofia Mattsson really needs the money. We’ll see!”
Willow: “Michael, I should have full custody of Wiley and Amelia!”
Michael: “You bitch!”
It is just bizarre to write Michael as so spineless when it comes to one baby mama as he’s fighting the other one tooth and nail. When the truth comes out that Willow did gaslight Sasha, I hope Sasha slaps the hell out of her. I just don’t want Michael to say that Willow kept him from his daughter. Michael is the one who kept himself from Daisy. Willow didn’t make that man agree to not being on the birth certificate and letting Sasha leave the country with Daisy. Willow didn’t tell him to bend over and spread his cheeks for Sasha. He made the choice.
Michael The Hypocrite
Michael is a tragic character. He was essentially raised in a cult. Tamara Braun’s Carly would tell little redheaded Michael that Sonny and Jason were just like firemen and policemen. She made sure the narrative was they were the good guys and anyone against them was bad. Carly’s decision to have Michael raised by a mobster resulted in a miserable life for him with him getting shot in the head, being in a coma for a year, killing his stepmother, going to prison and getting raped in prison. Not to mention Sonny killing his biological father in cold blood and the recent bomb burning Michael.
Michael just goes along with all of this because he’s conditioned to do so. That’s why he can walk in on Sonny shooting an FBI agent in the head on the Quartermaine estate where his children live and be chill with it. That’s why he can constantly talk about how Willow should never see the children again as he shrugs off Kristina trying to kill Ava in a way that could have caused a mass casualty event. Michael is mentally unwell, but because he’s composed and not shrieking in a wedding dress like Willow he gets away with it.
I think Michael essentially being raised in a cult is what attracted him to Willow. She was raised in a cult so she’d toe the family line and he wouldn’t feel bad about not telling her about witnessing murders and whatever secret he feels like keeping. The show framed the breakup of Michael and Willow like he was a great husband and she’s the dummy who messed it up. The truth was they were both hot messes who lied and cheated on each other. If Michael respected and trusted Willow, he would have let her on his revenge plan against Sonny and told her about Jagger’s murder. If Willow respected and trusted Michael, she would have told him about the cancer and not had sex with his uncle.
There are interesting things that could be mined from this. When Willow inevitably goes to Ferncliff and gets out, she could point out Kristina could show up with a bag of severed heads and Michael would still let her take Wiley and Amelia to the zoo. It would be the truth. If Michael can read her for filth for putting Drew above the kids, she should be able to read him back for being a hypocrite.
The Right Side of the Line
Whenever a man is yelling at a woman on a soap, he has to be careful to not play it like he wants to punch her. It is a careful line actors have to try not to cross. They have to be mad, but it can’t feel violent. Some can’t manage it like Thorsten Kaye. When Ridge on B&B is yelling at Brooke or Hope, he looks like he wants to slap them and it is deeply uncomfortable. Once you cross that line, fans will remember that scene in all the wrong ways.
Rory Gibson has managed to not cross the line as Michael has been very pissed with Willow. It has been teetering towards the edge lately. I just hope it doesn’t cross over and then it will be unwatchable and damage Michael’s rooting value. And if it does, the pendulum would start swinging in the other direction. Fans are on Michael’s side right now. If he starts looking like he’s going to swing on Willow, that would change.
A Man Who Has Watched Paw Patrol Before
Rory’s Michael is much more natural around children than Chad’s Michael was. You can tell Rory has children in his life and has had a conversation about Bluey and tried to answer questions he did not know the answers to. Chad’s Michael seemed awkward around kids and like he didn’t want to be talking with them which I found relatable, but wasn’t great for someone who was playing a father. Rory’s Michael feels like a loving father even when I’m raising my eyebrows at his decision making.
Feeling Like You Were Always There
The trick to being a good recast is they have to feel like they were always playing the role. When they talk about things that happened with another actor in the role, they still need to feel like it happened to them. Linsey Godfrey managed this when Sarah on Days talked about Eve running her over. If it feels like the actor is just recapping something that happened to someone else, they failed. Thankfully Rory has managed to feel like he’s always been playing Michael.
The biggest test of this was Monica’s funeral. Rory never worked with Leslie Charleson so he had to play grief for Michael’s grandmother as his castmates were grieving the friend and coworker they lost. The same situation Alexa Havins and Van Hansis found themselves in as also being recent recasts. All three of them pulled it off and if I were a new viewer, I never would have known these three hadn’t been in a scene with Leslie’s Monica.
The Final Hurdle
Michael can’t be declared as being fixed until he’s in a successful pairing. The current situation makes that difficult. Rory has great chemistry with Katelyn MacMullen, but Willow would need a Ferncliff stint before Michael could even have hate sex with her. Sasha isn’t on the canvas so they’d need to recast her or get Sofia Mattsson to return.
They could have Michael have sex with his fake paramour Jacinda since he has had sex with a sex worker before, but that would be a stopgap pairing. Something for him to do until he can be with Sasha or Willow. They could create a new character, but that would require a lot of time and buildup. The simplest solution would be maneuvering it so Michael can spend a few years bouncing between the mothers of his children. It would be foolish if they did nothing with the chemistry between Rory and Katelyn and had some toxic fun. Fans have compared Rory to Stuart Damon. Let Michael be messy like his Grandpa Alan. Then he can be declared fixed.
Dispatches From Soap Land
*Jason Thompson has been doing a good job so I feel slightly bad for wanting him to be fired, but I can’t abide Billy Abbott anymore. A year without Billy would help Y&R.
*If you can’t say the word rape, you shouldn’t be telling rape stories. Someone at CBS needs to tell Brad Bell that.
*Tyler Joseph Andrews has been doing a good job as Days‘ new Theo. It was smart to revisit JJ shooting him in an organic way because the original story was too centered on JJ’s feelings.
*You can tell Leslie is Michele Val Jean’s favorite character on Beyond The Gates. I’m just going to trust that she knows Leslie has to get her comeuppance eventually and this isn’t a Bob Guza with Carly on GH situation.
