The Friend Nobody Likes: Difference between revisions

** Of course, Jayne isn't technically a "friend" at all; he's a mercenary, and in fact one that Mal hired out from under another guy while that other guy was busy holding Mal up. He's told the good captain in no uncertain terms that if he gets a good enough offer he ''will'' turn on him—but since he's grown to respect Mal, he'll do him the service of not stabbing him in the back about it. Any actual friendship between Jayne and anyone else on the ship is purely incidental.

*** And yet, he cares enough about what they think of him to ask Mal to make up a different account of his death when Mal is about to throw him out of the airlock for secretly trying to turn in River and Simon for their bounties. It's implied that this request is the only reason Mal gave Jayne another chance.

*** Jayne's supposed cutthroat, purely mercenary behavior is debatable, as his qualification for this particular trope. Let it suffice that he is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] and the other characters buy his act to varying degrees. [[Your Mileage May Vary]] as well.

* Similar to the ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' example, but less extreme: Screech in ''[[Saved by the Bell]]'' is good friends with Zack but merely tolerated by the rest of the group (and outright despised by Lisa). They all like Zack and Screech is part of the baggage.