Granted, Shane is dead two times over, but I don’t really think that makes him any less absent.
Even though I didn’t go into verbatim about what Rick told Michonne during those emotionally fraught moments earlier this season, Sarah Wayne Callies hit the same nail on the head with her thoughts.
There was one point when Post-Apocalyptic Shane would have been good father and husband material — something that culminated in Shane and Lori bumping uglies — but he ruined his chances a million times over.
A father-daughter connection is not about the DNA or the blood coursing through one’s veins, but rather the amount of time, energy and love put into it, and Rick has clearly done a better job of raising Judith than Shane has.