User blog:Тостер/Constantine: City of Angels. Arrowverse? Retcon? WTF?..

As I've seeing a lot of people complaining that we shouldn't feature Constantine: City of Demons because appearance of second Chas Chandler and new flashbacks suggest non-canon, I'd like to insert my few cents to discussion. SPOILER ALERT, guys. As most of this is my purely genre-savvy speculation, I might have something figured out and spoil the surprise... If there is one.

Firstly let me remind you - that was announced as an Arrowverse show and it would have been astonishingly weird if this series by CW Seed is not canon, while Vixen, Freedom Fighters: The Ray etc. are there. Especially since both have their inconsistencies, as well. I mean, not as much as "City of Demons", but Vixen's hairstyle always weirded me out. Anyhow: in case of Freedom Fighters: The Ray we also had assorted weirdness if compared to Crisis on Earth-X, but nothing too bad and there were logical explanations behind most of the situations (mainly the fact that it was set prior to events of Crisis and not after, as announced initially). Plus we have original Constantine showrunners and Greg Berlanti onboard.

Secondly even if it is non-canon it still originated as an Arrowverse show. We do feature and Constantine is not the first time culprit: Final Girl, John Con Noir, you name it.

Thirdly and most importantly: it is hinted all over the series that something is not right. Just to name a few flags:
 * Newcastle flashbacks are brutally different to Non Est Asylum, but then again it's a retelling by Renee Chandler of what Chas Chandler told her. It's DOUBLE unreliable narrator.
 * Chas Chandler, the Charles Halford version from Constantine is casually at the bar while new Chas and John are there as well. As Chas is the main inconsistency between the series look closer: here he is presented as Constantine's best friend from his lonely, abused, childhood who was was always supportive and is very close in personality to a tamed down Constantine himself. I am not calling it a blatant hint so far, but Chandler also is both the source and the receiver of some of the most cryptic comments and jokes in the series. Why he can't hurt a demon? Why he is displaced? Why he can't help Constantine much and why Constantine doesn't need him to drive, per se? Because that Chas Chandler is non-existant and imaginary friend can't help John much. At least he was not able, until some Constantine's powers (most likely manifesting evil counterpart; we'll get to that later) might have warped the reality and created a physical form for him.
 * First episode references Army of Darkness with John being forced to have his inner demons back in his head and them having small physical appearances. How an identical situation ended up for Ash? Manifestation of a physical form of his darker side. Should I tell you what it means for John? I guess I should as not all people have read a lot about him. Fun fact: credits of the first episode blatantly suggest that this is right calling small Constantines Demon Constantines.
 * There was another great reference: John waking up from a non-pleasant dream on the plane next to Chas. Reminding of something, isn't it? And considering the plot of that movie the fact that Chas suggests to John that he has dementia (which has numerous symptoms including hallucinationa and inability to recognize people) just feels planted, not random.
 * Finally, there is an interesting thing about the end credits: the fact that creators of Chas Chandler, despite being some of the co-creators of John Constantine were credited separately. Why they were, i wonder?.. Maybe because a) we have a separate Chas Chandler closer to comics and b) he's really, REALLY important to that story.

You know, now I'm really waiting for Charles Halford to make a surprising voice appearance on the final episode when Constantine will return to freaking reality. It might not be that way, but one can dream and, obviously, Halford is no stranger to CW shows.