"Would you like a Fresca?" is an odd question for an odd subplot. This seemingly benevolent query is repeated by followers of the Church of the Collective, a mysterious cult-like religion that was introduced in the second season of The Boys. The religion has an obsession with the beverage, with Eagle the Archer, The Deep and Church spokesperson Carol Mannheim offering cans of the tasty soft drink to prospective inductees. Despite numerous theories surrounding the beverage, there seems to be little to no meaning behind the cult's obsession with Fresca in The Boys.
Fresca is even served in fancy chalices in the home of Alastair Adana, the L. Ron Hubbard/David Miscavige-esque Church leader. After Alastair's death in Season 2, there's seemingly no one around to run the Church, so it's possible that Fresca won't make a reappearance in the upcoming fourth season. But it's still an unanswered plot hole that even The Boys' cast still don't understand. With Season 2 full of poignant discussions about the current state of affairs and a deep dive into the world the show inhabits, it makes one wonder why The Boys has become so obsessed with mentioning Fresca.
Why Does the Church of the Collective Drink Fresca?
At the more tin-foil hate end of the spectrum, the Fresca offered to people who are being targeted by Church members for indoctrination could be drugged in some way to make the drinker more suggestible. After all, certain drinks have ties to cults. Most famously, the saying "drinking the Kool-Aid," a reference to the infamous Jonestown mass cult suicide, has entered the cultural vernacular as being akin to blindly taking in the teachings of a cult-like religion.
This theory is also buoyed by the fact that Church members use psychotropic drugs in order to give their members a "gateway" to a religious experience. Early in Season 2, Eagle offered The Deep tea laced with psychotropic mushrooms, which prompts Deep to have a disturbing (if weirdly uplifting) vision of his gills giving him a motivational speech. This event clinches his involvement with the Church and begins his journey for self-forgiveness and redemption.
That moment made it clear that the Church is not above drugging prospective inductees. However, The Deep is only explicitly drugged after having at least two Frescas. Also, Fresca is later shown to be served at Church social functions among existing members, as well as to A-Train and The Deep at a bar. So, without anything concrete, this theory is shaky at best. It also quashes any notion of Fresca having to do with rank in the Church -- Fresca seems to be the all-inclusive beverage of every Collective member.
The Boys' Fresca Drink Probably Doesn't Mean Anything
A simpler explanation of the abundance of Fresca in the Church of the Collective has recently been offered by showrunner Eric Kripke, and it's not as exciting as fans once hoped. Kripke confirmed to CinemaBlend that the Fresca bit was a running gag in the writer's room that made its way into the finished scripts, stemming from a discussion over what Eagle would offer The Deep as a non-alcoholic beverage. This is due to the fact that many religious organizations dissuade their members from consuming alcohol, or engaging in excess with controlled substances.
Although the Fresca joke is explained away by Kripke's explanation, the showrunner has teased that the joke continues into the "very, very end of the show," indicating that the drink will have some role to play later in the series. And, while the Church of the Collective didn't play a part in Season 3 of The Boys, there's always a chance that they will return in future seasons. Knowing this, Fresca could possibly have implications in the Church's endgame for their formerly indoctrinated Supes.
Seasons 1-3 of The Boys is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Season 4 does not have a release date yet.