There are reasons to say that Dinesh and Gilfoyle are friends in Silicon Valley:
- They are always chatting, they seem to enjoy each others company, they have intimacy to speak about delicate matters such as when they thought of not leaving the company when Richard did want them to [end of S02], and they even developed something imporant for the company because of the rising of a seemingly trivial discussion [S01E08].
On the other hand, some attitudes are not as friendly:
- Gilfoyle rarely smiles, maybe he has his bullying level a little higher than average (from the beginning [S01] challenging Dinesh's sexual appeal, and later on making fun of his golden chain [S03]), and in ultimate situation he sometimes just goes his own way [end of S02].
Of course all friendships have some element of challenge in play, and fighting/bullying may even mark lines on how not to do things that certain people don't do, such as when a rugby team is always pushing who's more of a pussy or a tough motherfucker. But maybe they're just good co-workers.
Perhaps none of the elements mentioned are enough to make a decision. But,
What helps to understand Gilfoyle's relationship and attitude?
edit. I like and accept zim
's answer. It gets a good broad view and marks some lines to clarify:
"Real" friends see each other outside of work. That's the bottom line.
I think that on top of that the question/answers enables to think what friendship means in general and in the show (and for this specific character). Because aren't friends, by definition, good friends?
Is Gilfoyle a good friend?
On one hand, when speaking of Richard in a certain ocassion he was kind enough, with Dinesh, to prep a short consideration-acronym. On the other hand, there's a certain dark feeling that Gilfoyle'd be ok to crush someone's head if given the chance, including perhaps walking away from former friends.