I had him in my party the first go 'round before they patched him to be less pushy about entering a relationship. But even now he's a bit of a twat especially if you play either a wizard or a sorcerer where he's frequently talking down to you despite not actually being any better at the whole magic thing. There's one conversation in act 2 earns him a permanent place on the bench in my opinion. And the only reason he gets that is because:
spoilers for the climax of the game
If you have him in the party, didn't use any tadpole powers (including tadpole dialogue skill checks) or assimilate any tadpoles, and freed Orpheus, you can avoid having to turn any party member into a mindflayer and skip the last boss fight by having Gale climb onto the nether brain and blow himself up.