My favorite was this exchange when Jayne was trying to trade his gun for the Captain's new wife:
J: It's miles more worthy than what you got!
M: What I got? She has a name.
J: So does this. I call it Vera.
Jayne is my favorite personality of the ensemble. I really don't think that particular character could exist without the unique talents of both the writer and the actor.
Somehow, Baldwin manages to communicate it is Jaynes very lack of moral certainty that causes him to submit to, and draw strength from, Reynolds...even though the direction consistantly shows Jayne is a much more imposing fighter than Mal.
I don't know how the hell you even imagine, then write for such a convoluted dynamic: let alone approach 'playing' it.
I had to admit real admiration for the director during the "train robbery" episode. My wife was watching it for the first time, and in the barfight scene once Mal and Zoe are knocked outside the bar, my wife had just barely finished saying the words "where is that other sorry bastard" when Jayne comes busting through the front door beating the hell out of *three* of the local toughs.
Now that's timing!