Unique (Glee)

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Unique Adams
Glee character
Alex Newell as Unique in Glee
First appearance"Saturday Night Glee-ver" (2012)
Last appearance"Dreams Come True" (2015)
Created byRyan Murphy
Brad Falchuk
Ian Brennan
Portrayed byAlex Newell
In-universe information
OccupationHigh school student (graduated)

Unique Adams is a fictional character from the

fourth season
in order to be in a place where she can be her true self.

Unique was initially created as a two-episode guest arc prize in Glee's third season for Newell, one of the two runners-up of the first season of

the final season, including the series finale
. For the depiction of coming to terms with her identity throughout her appearance on the show, the character has received favorable reviews and considered to be the most notable mid-run addition to the show.

Storylines

Season 3

The character makes her debut in the third-season episode "

Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff). Mercedes and Kurt, under Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) order, advises her to do so in order to sabotage the group. Mercedes and Kurt have a change of heart and when they are about to retract their advice, Unique turns out to be a huge success. During the Nationals
, Unique pressed by the new publicity and pressure, considers backing down. Only after the encouragement from Kurt and Mercedes, she performs and received the MVP award at Nationals competition, not before telling the two that she might transfer school next year.

Season 4

Unique transfers to McKinley and as the latest Nationals MVP last year, joins New Directions straight away without audition, which garnered less than enthusiastic welcome from seniors

Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist). This only ignites a feud with Ryder, because he calls her a "dude" and refuses to acknowledge her as a girl. He later apologizes to the three. In the season finale
, Ryder confronts the club about who is catfishing him. After Marley covers for her, Unique finally admits that she is the catfish and that she has a crush on him. The exchange weren't meant to be that serious at first but it got way too deep for her to stop. Ryder, furious, tells her that he won't ever speak to her again and announces that he is quitting New Directions after Regionals. After the victory, overjoyed with happiness, the two share a hug, only to awkwardly stop seconds later.

Season 5

Aside from a small remark from Kitty, there's no resolution on the catfish storyline cliffhanger, as Ryder is unexplainably still in the club. Unique goes to the female bathroom during class so no one would notice, but is caught by Bree (Erinn Westbrook), who promises not to tell anyone so she herself can start to use the boys bathroom to make out with Jake, creating "The Great McKinley Bathroom Gender Riot". When she goes to the men's bathroom, she is harassed by three jocks who pick on her and throw her wig. The current principal Sue creates a porta potty with a question mark for her, but Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) secretly takes her to the teachers bathroom. Will decides to end the week's twerking lesson in exchange for Sue's granting Unique the access to the teachers bathroom. She congratulates Mercedes on her upcoming album and last appear in the season when Sue disbands the glee club because they did not win Nationals, where she shares one last group hug with Marley, Jake, Ryder, and Kitty before attending the senior class graduation.

Season 6

Sue transferred her to another school after the glee club is disbanded. Her whereabouts during the season remain unknown. In “The Hurt Locker, Part Two”, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) –unable to remember her name– refers her as “cross-dressing Mercedes”, and Kitty mentions that other old members stopped talking to her once they got transferred. She returns to the show in the "Transitioning" episode, having been summoned by Will, now the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, to teach the Vocal Adrenaline kids about tolerance, to no avail. She comes back to McKinley to console Coach Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) after the latter's transition to a man, and gathered a transgender choir to perform for Beiste to help Will's act of intervention on Vocal Adrenaline kids after they vandalized Beiste's car. She last appears in the closing minutes of the series finale and takes a bow with the rest of the Glee cast.

Development

Newell, along with

fifth season.[4][5]

Musical performances

Erin Strecker of Entertainment Weekly gave an "A" grade to Unique's debut performance of "

fourth season episode "The Role You Were Born to Play", Strecker gave Unique and Marley Rose's performance of Pink's "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" an A− and wrote "Marley and Wade rock out both in the hallways and onstage for their audition (Side note: This is a horrible choice for an audition song). I really dug the harmonies on this, and the word changes (“whiskey wish”!?) made me chuckle."[7]

Lincee Ray from Entertainment Weekly wrote that "I believe this is her best performance on Glee. It was powerful, emotional, and even though I wasn't crazy about that ending note, I thought the performance was nearly flawless." regarding Unique's performance of "

sixth season episode "Transitioning"[8]

Reception

The character broke ground by being one of the most visible transgender characters on television and one of the first on a network prime time show.[9] Newell's performance as Unique was described as "bold",[10] with "remarkable restraint and powerful vocals."[11]

Her initial appearance and storylines with Kurt and Mercedes was highlighted as a step forward for the show towards trans representation, a first for the series. Jacob Severn from Pop Crush noted that Kurt's advice for Wade not to be Unique on stage as an evidence that he does not understand what trans people go through. he wrote "It's about time 'Glee' tackled some of these issues, and we really hope to see more of Unique in the future. Not just for her powerful singing voice and fabulous dancing, but in order to bring trans issues to light. This looks like the next step of acceptance in 'Glee.'"[12]

Regarding the storyline in which she has a feud with Ryder due to the latter's refusal to acknowledge her as a girl, Brandon Nowalk from The AV Club wrote "Now, I wouldn't mind a plot where minorityhood is more than victimization, but Unique is Glee's first close-up on transgendered living, and that “What bathroom do you use” smirk should be called out for the juvenile self-absorption it is with all the sincerity this do-gooder can muster.[13] Marc Snetiker from Entertainment Weekly lauded Newell's performance as Unique in the fifth-season episode "The End of Twerk", highlighting Unique's rendition of Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy", noting "I'm surprised it's taken this long since Unique's introduction for us to get this song and this performance, actually. In a ridiculous episode, the song was particularly moving, and should serve as a reminder of Glee's important position as a sociopolitical talking point for teens across the country."[14]

References

  1. ^ Steve Lee (January 16, 2016). "Alex Newell has got the 'Power'". LGBT Weekly. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  2. Mail.com Media
    . Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  3. ^ Lesley Goldberg (August 17, 2012). "'Glee' Brings Back Whoopi Goldberg for Season 4 (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Michael Ausiello (June 28, 2013). "UPDATED Glee Exclusive: 4 Original Cast Members Not Returning as Series Regulars for Season 5; Plus — Who's Getting Promoted?". TVLine. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  5. ^ "From 'Glee' to BTD: Alex Newell plans to steal the show". Dallas Voice. November 14, 2014. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  6. Time, Inc.
    Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  7. Time, Inc.
    Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  8. Time, Inc.
    Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  9. ^ Patrick Rosenquist (October 22, 2015). "The Palm Springs Center Stage Gala Welcomes Alex Newell and Kate Clinton to the Desert". Frontiers Media. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  10. ^ Jason Mannino (April 10, 2013). "Andrew Rannells, Kimberley Locke, Alex Newell, Tyne Daly Raise $285k for APLA in the 29th Star Studded S.T.A.G.E Gala". Huffpost Los Angeles. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  11. ^ Jason Scott (May 20, 2014). "'Glee' Star Alex Newell Reigns Supreme With Electric 'Nobody To Love' Cover". Pop Dust. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  12. ^ Jacob Severn (April 18, 2012). "'Glee' Introduces Its First Transgender Character, Unique, on 'Saturday Night Glee-ver' Episode". Pop Crush. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  13. ^ Nowalk, Brandon (March 15, 2013). "Glee: 'Feud'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  14. Time, Inc.
    Retrieved July 16, 2020.
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