richie wears his armor, like he mentioned in "forks". his armor isn't a suit though, it was a loud, obnoxious, shitty attitude, mixed with self-loathing and self-pity. i'm having a rough go of it, nothing goes my way, my childhood was shit, so i'm going to act like an asshole and i don't care what people think of me.
the good qualities he had, both as a person and as a restaurant-worker were always there. "he said you were good with people. he wasn't wrong." carmy and those close to him have seen glimpses, he just needed to knock the chip off his shoulder and do the work. he needed to understand it better. i agree the stage phase should've been longer, but these are 30 min episodes and there just isn't room.
but he cares about people and their experiences, and now he's able to put that part forward and let it lead. when you see his character, you almost assume it's like the wire, and they just took an obnoxious chicago sandwich shop guy and put him in the show. he's a good actor and a good character.