The January 8 episode of General Hospital promises to be a big one for Michael Corinthos — and, at least for now, a last one. Over the course of the dramatic hour, he will be caught in a devastating explosion at adoptive father Sonny Corinthos’ penthouse. When the smoke clears, Emmy winner Chad Duell will have exited stage left.

Needless to say, all of Port Charles will be hit hard by the news of Michael’s fate. But perhaps no one will take it worse than Sonny. After all, the career criminal had to be the target of the attack that wound up burning Michael to a crisp. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the mobster is sure to want only two things: to find out who was behind the blowup and make. Them. Pay.

Sonny’s ex, Michael’s mother Carly, will be laid low by the calamity. She and Sonny already lost Morgan, and now this?!? If she doesn’t end up having grief sex with her former husband, expect her to act on impulse and take her flirtation with Brennan to the next level. If nothing else, a no-strings fling will serve as welcome pain relief.

As Sonny seeks to ferret out the Mafia rival who French-fried Michael, the don will lean heavily on right-hand man Jason. Of course, Stone Cold has his own reasons for wanting to serve the culprit their just deserts. He’s loved Michael like a son since the day he was born and even pretended to be his father for a while there.

If Michael doesn’t survive, Willow won’t have to worry anymore about the end of her marriage or the beginning of a nasty custody battle — at least not with her estranged husband. However, someone else might decide to stake a claim to Wiley…

Should Michael join Nelle in the afterlife, Wiley would be left with no biological parents still on this earthly plane. That could spark an idea in Lucas’ mind: to reclaim the son that he thought he and Brad were going to be raising in the first place.

Though gutted by Michael’s fate, Sasha might also breathe a sigh of relief. After all, keeping the paternity of her unborn child a secret will surely be a whole lot easier without the dad actually being around. But who will she choose to pass out cigars in place of her long-ago beau?

Michael’s Uncle Drew is likely to do a happy dance in the ruins of Sonny’s penthouse. With the baby-faced businessman out of the way, the sleazy politician will think that there’s nothing standing in the way of his icksome pursuit of Willow. Spoiler alert: He’d be wrong!

Nina will move heaven and earth — hell, too, if need be — to ensure that Drew stays away from her daughter. Perhaps Nina will even be moved to confess to Willow that she, too, was sleeping with the newly minted congressman. Desperate times do call for desperate measures!

With Michael no longer backing him at Aurora, Curtis will likely have to fend off further attempts by Drew to maintain some hold on the company. Luckily, Curtis has in his corner Nina, and between the two of them, that’s one threat they should have no trouble neutralizing. Should have, anyway!

Though she barely emerged from her last conflict with Sonny with a pulse, opportunistic Ava might see the explosion as ammo to sue for sole custody of Avery. “His lifestyle is dangerous,” she could argue. “Just take a look at Exhibit A: his son’s charred remains.”

Alexis just lost daughter Sam, so she’s sure to react to the tragedy that befalls Michael by worrying anew about the wisdom of Kristina running a bar that was given to her by her father, the godfather. Whoever blew up the penthouse could blow up the bar next. Speaking of that individual…

Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is sure to get a lot of airplay in the weeks to come as everyone from Ms. Wu to new power monger Sidwell denies, denies, denies that they are responsible for the blowup that left Michael fricasseed. They might not even be lying if the guilty party turns out to be…

General Hospital is intent on letting Sonny get away with murdering Cates in cold blood. But the federal agent’s son Stone (named for his late uncle) isn’t likely to be. When he learns that the bomb he planted didn’t blow his father’s killer to smithereens, the vengeful youth will surely try, try again.

Ned wouldn’t feel good about… well, feeling good that Michael is out of the picture. But in his heart of hearts, Ned would have to admit that it was going to be awfully nice to have one fewer relation with whom he has to butt heads. Now if only he could do something about cousin Drew!

When word of Michael’s fate spreads, imagine the chaos that would erupt if out of the grave crawled Wiley’s conniving biomom, Nelle. Suddenly, Nina would have a second daughter and Willow, another threat to her maintaining custody of the boy who she’s raised as her own.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that his parents were splitting up, Wiley will now find himself without dad Michael in his life — and, unless Nina is successful at keeping Drew away from Willow —  with his dad’s uncle as a new father figure. Better start booking sessions with Kevin now, poor kid!