Jay and Silent Bob Reunited On The Flash

Screen Rant

Jay and Silent Bob Reunited On The Flash - Was It Worth It?

By Derek Stauffer

Published Apr 11, 2018

In Kevin Smith's latest episode of The Flash, he inserted himself and friend Jason Mewes as Jay and Silent Bob. Did the View Askewniverse cameo work?

Jay and Silent Bob now live in The Flash's Central City, evidently. Director Kevin Smith returned to direct an episode of The Flash for a third time last night: "Null and Annoyed." The episode saw Team Flash face a new villainous metahuman, Null, who had control over gravity itself. Yet the biggest surprise of the episode might been the appearance of Smith and his long-time friend, Jason Mewes in their iconic roles.

Since Smith has joined the collection of the Arrowverse's circle of directors, having also helmed three Supergirl episodes, but he hasn't stepped in front of the camera at all. This is a bit odd as Kevin Smith often likes to insert himself as a cameo in the role of his original character, Silent Bob. Silent Bob first appeared in 1994's Clerks, alongside Mewes as the very verbose Jay. Since then, Jay and Silent Bob have appeared in everything from Dogma to Degrassi. Now the pair are firmly apart of the Arrowverse.

The appearance of Jay and Silent Bob was very brief. Mewes and Smith popped up during the introduction of villain Null as two security guards. The excitable Jay and nonverbal Bob were transporting an expensive artifact that Null just happened to smash and grab. Though the two characters were never named on-screen, it's obvious that they were playing Jay and Silent Bob.

This marks the first appearance of Jay and Silent Bob in live-action in over decade. Mewes and Smith last appeared on-screen together in 2006's Clerks II, although they did "reunite" as voice actors for 2013's Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie.

Interestingly though "Null and Annoyed" isn't the first time that Mewes has appeared in the Arrowverse. In Smith's directorial debut of The Flash, "The Runaway Dinosaur" Mewes had a cameo. His character, named "Humvee Guy", had his eponymous car destroyed by the reanimated corpse of villain Girdera. With the destruction of his car and presumably losing his job due to negligence in "Null and Annoyed," the Jay of The Flash's Earth hasn't had the best run of luck.

As for the Jay and Silent reunion of "Null and Annoyed", it was a harmless - if completely unnecessary - cameo. The characters did get more of a spotlight than the average passerby of a metahuman crime on The Flash, yet not so much that they took up the entire episode. It was a nod to Kevin Smith fans as well as an example of The Flash giving the director a little bit of a gift. The crew of the Arrowverse clearly enjoys working with Smith, so it makes sense that they'd allow him a chance to put his own stamp on the universe.

Of course, that being said, the appearance of Jay and Silent Bob could've, understandably, pulled many viewers out of the episode. By not speaking at all, Silent Bob makes an impression - even if the average Flash viewer isn't aware of the character. It could easily be taken as obtuse, a reminder that The Flash is a TV show.

Jay and Silent Bob's reunion was fine in "Null and Bothered." Yet it shouldn't start a trend of Smith inserting his alter ego and/or Mewes into every episode he directs in the Arrowverse.