This editing freaks me out...

High end Speed retouching / Photoshop

That guy edits so much, and the result is IMHO not better than the original.

It's just different...

You can see a before/after right at the end of the video.

I actually liked it better in black and white when it was in the middle of the process. I agree, I don't think the final is necessarily better, just different.

I think it was just touchups rather thank completely altering the photo. but it was a ton of work he did just for the subtle changes