Something Weird Is Happening With Fresca in ‘The Boys’

From Men's Health

Spoiler warning: The following story contains spoilers for the first three episodes of season 2 of The Boys

• The Boys prominently features Fresca, a lemon-lime soda made by The Coca-Cola Company, throughout Season 2.

• It's the flagship drink of The Church of the Collective, the cult The Deep (Chace Crawford) becomes deeply involved with.

• The idea of a cult connection with a very specific drink brings the infamous Jonestown cult from 1978 to mind.

Fans checking out Season 2 of Amazon Prime's superhero/satire megahit The Boys probably clicked play expecting more of the usual: action, violence, comedy, the works. And they certainly got all of that and more. Included in that "more" section is a...significant focus on the lemon-lime soda, Fresca. Bizarre, we know. But bear with us on this one—it's a key, recurring piece of a Season 2 storyline focused on The Deep (Chace Crawford) getting involved with a Scientology/NNXIVM-esque cult.

The Boys fans will remember that last season, The Deep was banished to Sandusky, Ohio after his sexual misconduct toward Starlight (Erin Moriarty) was made public. The last few episodes showed him adjusting to his new midwestern life away from the rest of The Seven, clearly in the midst of a personal breakdown.

When Season 2 meets back up with The Deep, he's drinking in a bar, watching the tribute to Translucent on his TV. He drinks too much, and starts acting reckless, eventually getting removed from the bar. From there, he takes his drunken antics to a waterpark, clearly breaking down, yelling at children. He's arrested at this point.

We don't see The Deep in jail for too long until he makes bail, paid for by someone named Eagle the Archer (a clear spoof of Marvel's Hawkeye, played here by Insecure actor Langston Kerman). Eagle greets The Deep, and before anything else asks him a question. "Hey man. Want a Fresca?" The camera very specifically zooms in on the Fresca label here.

A less keen eye might think this is some odd product placement of the Coca-Cola company product, created back in 1966—and that might be a fair thought. But this is The Boys, and you should know by now that The Boys is smarter than that. Eagle is here to recruit The Deep to what we later see is a very Cult-y situation happening. "Even heroes need a hand once in a while," Eagle tells The Deep.

Later in the episode, after The Deep wakes up from what was clearly a heavy slumber (his face is flat on a couch cushion, drool dripping from his mouth), he meets Eagle's friend, a woman named Carol. Carol once again offers him a Fresca, and the camera focuses tightly on the beverage.

The Eagle/Carol duo convinces The Deep he's reached rock bottom, and clearly whatever is going on with those Fresca cans is part of their scheme. Over the entirety of the three-episode premiere, in fact, The Deep is encroached in this cult, which we learn is part of something called "Church of the Collective."

We learn throughout the season that Stormfront—exposed as a 100-year-old former Nazi and the wife of Vought founder Frederick Vough—was one of the earliest members of The Church of the Collective. Perhaps this was part of one of her earliest attempts to scrub and rebrand her own image and identity (see her pre-Stormfront alternative identity of Liberty).

The more we see of Church of the Collective, the more we see of Fresca. Eventually The Deep not only gets fully entrenched in the cult, but becomes a public spokesman of sorts as well (kind of invoking Tom Cruise's Scientology role). We even see him recruiting A-Train, and inviting him for dinner, Frescas in hand of course (at dinner, they even poured the Frescas into a glass! With ice!)

The involvement of Fresca could clearly be a historical reference to the infamous Jonestown cult that was formed in 1978. Back then, Jim Jones, a preacher-turned-cult leader, convinced more than 900 of his followers to drink cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid (a Kool-Aid-esque knockoff beverage), leading to one of the largest mass deaths in history. Ever heard the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid," as in "oh, he's drinking the Kool-Aid"? This is the origin. And the Fresca here is giving off very similar vibes.

Fans picked up on early on what was happening:

There haven't been definitive answers as to what, exactly, is happening with the Frescas. Or what's actually inside those cans. And...as much as it seems like there might be a conspiracy afoot, showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed that it was basically just a very funny, very long-running gag. And it's going to keep coming.

As he told CinemaBlend:

The man is not lying. Even in some of the very final moments of the Season 2 finale, the Fresca jokes continued; including a head explosion, blood, guts, and Fresca all combined.

In fact, none of us watching this brilliant, insane show will probably ever be able to think of Fresca the same again. Which kind of brings a certain question to mind: Would you like a Fresca?

You Might Also Like

• This Workout Torches Fat in Under 10 Minutes

• How to Cool Down After Your Hardest Workouts

• What’s the Deal With Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss?