Talking about companions' characterization, and having been playing Dragon Age games these last couple of months, i gotta say the banters in BG3 are way weaker than i first thought.
Granted, i haven't played the latter in a while, but if i remember correctly most of them were one/two lines each of awkward flirting. Meanwhile in Origins a talking rock (Shale) could have a string of meaningful discussions with someone who might as well have been a rock (Sten). Dragon Age 2 has the best banters in the series so i'm not even gonna go there, but even freaking Sera and Solas, in Inquisition, have more meaningful conversations than, say, Gale and Shadowheart.
It'll be a very big shame if banters end up not being used to show the different sides of the companion. I mean, i just said i wouldn't go there but screw it, someone like Varric, in Dragon Age 2, is so awesome precisely because his banters help to show us the 'mother hen' he actually is beneath all the bluster.
Again, if i remember correctly, what they're doing with SH and Lae'zel is kind of cool and a step in the right directions, what with them slowly acclimating to eachother by the time we reach the Underdark, but it's kind of a waste that, for the majority of them, all they're giving us are little doses of more of the same.