Unique Adams is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee who first appeared in "Saturday Night Glee-ver", the sixteenth episode of the show's third season.
The character makes her debut in the third-season episode "Saturday Night Glee-ver" as a teenage boy named Wade, a student at Carmel High School, and the new Vocal Adrenaline lead vocal, who idolizes both Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley) and Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) and comes to them for advice, despite being a competition rival.
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 Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss), and Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris), as they are secretly competing for "The New Rachel" position in the group.
The club's full acceptance of Unique and Marley effectively cuts the tie between them and the popular mean kids, led by new cheerleader Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin).
Sue is adamant because Unique is transgender, but director and New Directions alum Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) insists that she is the right fit and gives her the role.
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.
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.
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.
Newell, along with Lindsay Pearce, was the co-runner ups of the first season of The Glee Project, which granted both a two-episode arc on the parent series.
[1] Their character, first introduced as Wade Adams, debuted on the show in the third season episode "Saturday Night Glee-ver" as the Vocal Adrenaline's new lead singer.
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.
'"[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.
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.