That was also my initial reaction, and i do agree it is very clumsy and negative to the overall story, feeling more like a tiwst for the sake of having one than anything, but even then that was handled surprisingly well imo:
Spoilers
Lee still never gets hostile and remains respectful, which is exponentially better than what you’d expect from that sort of twist, and if you choose to accept it, is explained fairly well as one of those subconscious yet purposeful halfhearted attempts to push people away