hes always been a beast, but now people have finally watched him in action as opposed to just reading about his troubles
This is part of it. The other part of it? From a footballing perspective, the man finally has no significant troubles (that I'm aware of).
He's matured, and is the true focal point of the attack for a European powerhouse; there is no question that he is THE man, and feels the love. He can also communicate with those around him better, it's a more familiar/natural day to day environment for him, and I'm sure that's huge for his confidence and comfort level. He's also not making 10M+ net or whatever, so not every journalist/fan can take the easy cheap shots, and make him a target for some of that mercenary criticism in quite the same way.
Carlitos basically has it all right now, I think we're in store for an epic 1st season of Tevez. The man is clearly very, very motivated.