Tina Cohen-Chang (Season One History)

This page is an episode by episode recount of Tina Cohen-Chang in Season One of Glee. For a Season Two episode by episode recount click here.

Pilot
Tina signs up for New Directions and auditions with the song "I Kissed A Girl." Tina is seen as a shy girl with a stutter and later accompanies her teammates to Carmel High School where they witness Vocal Adrenaline perform an amazing rendition of "Rehab" which leaves Tina and the rest of the club in utter shock. Tina is later saddened when she learns that Mr. Shue is quitting his job. Tina soon sings "Don't Stop Believin'" with Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones and Artie Abrams and is thrilled to see Mr. Shue deciding to stay as their teacher.

Showmance
Tina rehearses "Le Freak" with the rest of New Directions and is horrified to learn that they will perform the song in front of the whole school. Tina later sings alongside Rachel as the club sings "Gold Digger" and later performs "Push It" at the school assembly, much to Mr. Shue's shock. After the assembly, Rachel goes to the auditorium to rehearse "Take A Bow" with Tina and Mercedes.

Acafellas
Tina and Rachel begin to notice that Mercedes is developing feelings for Kurt and eventually confront her on the matter, attempting to tell Mercedes that Kurt is obviously gay but she does not believe them and notes that neither Tina nor Rachel are getting boyfriends either. Tina briefly quits the club after Dakota Stanley insults her and everyone else in glee but rejoins after Rachel inspires everyone to embrace their differences.

Preggers
Tina dances with Brittany Pierce and Kurt in his basement to the song "Single Ladies" and tells his father that Kurt is practicing for football and that she is also his girlfriend. Tina is later given a chance to sing the solo "Tonight" by Mr. Shue, much to the dismay of Rachel, who threatens to quit over his choice. Will later works with Tina on the solo and after a brief rehearsal Tina states that she sang the song sharply and that Will should give the solo to Rachel and that she is willing to take one for the team. Will later announces that the solo will still be given to Tina, who despite her earlier comment, is still clearly happy over the decision.

Rhodes Not Taken
April Rhodes joins the glee club and Tina explains that Rachel, who quit the club over a solo, was their star. April then performs "Maybe This Time" which amazes all the kids. Will later asks April to win the kids over and so she teaches Tina and Mercedes to shoplift. Tina tells Will that she now no longer has a problem with April while wearing things that she had obviously stolen. Tina also discusses with the other students (minus Quinn and Finn) about the possibility that Quinn could be pregnant. She also performs alongside New Directions at their Invitationals the songs "Last Name" and "Somebody To Love."

Vitamin D
Tina is excited when Mr. Shue announces a boys vs. girls mash-up competition. Tina, however, alongside Mercedes, Brittany and Santana do not take the competition seriously as they believe the boys will not perform very well. After the boys perform a mash up of "It's My Life/Confessions" Tina is among the girls that are impressed and shocked by the performance. She then takes Vitamin D from Terri Shuester and performs with the rest of the girls a mash up of "Halo/Walking On Sunshine."

Throwdown
When Sue Sylvester becomes co-director of New Directions she decides to create her own mini club Sue's Kids and chooses Tina to be a member, referring to her as "Asian." Tina, Mercedes, Santana, Kurt, Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang are chosen as members of Sue's Kids and all perform the song "Hate On Me" with Mercedes on lead and Tina receiving a solo. The members of Sue's Kids soon get together with the remaining members of New Directions and sings "Ride Wit Me" as a way to reconnect, however, they are forced to leave once Mr. Shue arrives. Later, as Mr. Shue and Sue begin to fight Mercedes states that she does not want to be a minority and that she is no longer having fun in glee and leaves, followed by Tina who agrees with her. They later return to the club after Sue steps down as co-director and sing the song "Keep Holding On" with the rest of New Directions in Quinn's honor.

Mash-Up
Tina is among several glee club members who are in fear of being slushied by Karofsky and later comforts Kurt when he is slushied by Finn. Tina holds open the door to the ladies toilets as Rachel and Mercedes rush him into the toilet to clean him off.

Wheels
Tina and Artie's friendship begins to grow as Tina defends Artie when Mr. Shue informs the club that they cannot afford a special bus to take Artie to Sectionals. Tina later has difficulty learning wheelchair choreography and so Artie teaches her and Tina asks him about his accident. Artie informs her that he and his mother were in a car accident but empathizes to her that his penis still works. Freaked out, Tina leaves Artie on the stage alone.

She later goes on a date with him where they race each other on their wheelchairs and they eventually share their first kiss. Tina then reveals to Artie that over the years she has been faking her stutter so that people would leave her alone as she was a very shy girl before she joined New Directions. Artie takes offense to this and leaves Tina, stating that while she gets to be normal he is not able to fake his handicap. Tina later performs a solo during a group performance "Proud Mary."

Ballad
In a ballad assignment Mr. Shue tells everyone that they must sing a ballad to their partner which will be chosen by fate. Tina picks a name out of the hat which reads "Other Asian," meaning Mike. They eventually decide not to sing with each other and instead perform alongside the rest of New Directions the song "Lean On Me" which is dedicated to Quinn and Finn as they are struggling with the pregnancy.

Hairography
Tina witnesses the Jane Addams Academy Glee Club perform "Bootylicious" and is soon educated in the art of Hairography by Brittany. Mr. Shue later invites another glee club, the North Haverbrook Choir, to a gathering where Tina and the rest of New Directions perform a mash up of "Hair/Crazy In Love." Tina and the rest of the glee members later abandon their hairography plans and return to their old style of performing as they sit in the auditorium and sing "True Colors," with Tina on lead solo.

Mattress
Kurt and most of the New Directions students agree not to pose for the school's thunderclap (Yearbook) as every year the glee club photo is horribly disfigured and graffitied on by other students. Tina supports the idea of not having a photo taken and is soon thrilled to learn that Rachel has gotten the New Directions a spot on a mattress commercial. The club performs the song "Jump" and are later granted a photo in the yearbook after Quinn blackmails Sue. Despite her initial reluctance Tina stands proudly in the 2009 New Directions photo.

Sectionals
Tina, Mercedes, Kurt, Brittany and Santana all speak about Quinn's pregnancy scandal and agree not to let Rachel find out until after Sectionals. Rachel eventually discovers the truth by herself and tells Finn that Puck is the true father of Quinn's baby. Tina stands alongside the rest of New Directions and watches as Finn and Puck come to physical blows over the matter and Quinn tearfully admits the truth to everyone. New Directions (except Finn) eventually travel to Sectionals under the supervision of Emma Pillsbury and are shocked to see the Jane Addams Academy Glee Club and North Haverbrook Choir performing their chosen songs. Finn returns at the last minute and they all perform the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and go on to win Sectionals. After returning to McKinley, the club performs "My Life Would Suck Without You," in which Tina has a solo.

Hell-O
Tina returns to school ready for Regionals. She is seen enjoying Finn's rendition of "Hello, I Love You" and later warns Rachel against dating Jesse St. James. Tina mentions that Vocal Adrenaline gives their dancers Human Growth Hormones. She later performs "Hello, Goodbye" with the rest of the club.

The Power Of Madonna
Along with the rest of the New Directions girls, Tina recounts on how several of the boys have been behaving in a sexist way toward her. Tina recounts how Artie finally forgave her for lying about her stutter and agreed to go out with her if she changed her goth look for something more sexy. Mr. Shue assigns the club the task of singing Madonna songs and so Tina joins the rest of the girls in singing "Express Yourself" to the boys. She later uses the power of Madonna to stand up to Artie, confronting him in the hallway. Artie later apologizes to Tina and the two rekindle their past relationship. They both then perform with the rest of New Directions the Madonna song "Like A Prayer."

Home
Tina and Artie attempt to get Mercedes to eat some food after she begins dieting to stay on The Cheerioes. Mercedes verbally attacks them and visualizes them as food, which worries both Tina and Artie. They later join her in the gym to sing "Beautiful" and later in the auditorium they join April Rhodes in singing "Home."

Bad Reputation
After a "Glist" is posted in the school Mr. Shue asks the kids who created it. Tina believes that Puck posted it as his girlfriend is on the top of the list. She later teams up with Artie, Mercedes, Kurt and Brittany in order to garner herself a bad reputation. The group performs "U Can't Touch This" and Tina is later interrogated by Mr. Shue about the Glist and she states that she saw Puck posting it on a wall. After one failed attempt to get a bad reputation Artie suggests revealing to Sue that they posted a humiliating video of her onto Youtube but Tina fears they will get suspended. Kurt agrees to the plan and they later carry it out but learn that Sue has teamed up with Olivia Newton-John and has sang a duet version of "Physical" with her. Sue thanks the kids and they find themselves unable to change their reputations. Tina later leaves the room with the rest of the club as Rachel sings "Total Eclipse of The Heart."

Laryngitis
When Rachel exposes several members of the club as pretending to sing Mr. Shue gives them the assignment of singing solo songs. Tina later joins the club in singing the song "One."

Dream On
Bryan Ryan visits the club and asks each member of New Directions to write down their dream on a piece of paper. He then tells them that their dreams of show business will never come true. Tina is upset by this and states that show business is what she wants to do with her life and so Bryan tells the kids that Mr. Shue also dreamt of becoming famous and did not make it so neither will they. This sudden blast of put downs causes Tina to burst into tears. She later meets with Artie in the library and asks what his dream was and, after he lies to her, reveals that she stole his paper and knows that he wants to be a dancer. Artie and Tina then agree to practice a dance together for the rest of the club.

They later practice their tap routine and Tina helps Artie into some crutches. For a brief moment they believe Artie is able to move around on them but he quickly trips and blames Tina, telling her to leave him alone. Tina feels awful and decides to research treatments for Artie's spinal chord injury and returns to school and tells him about them, stating that she just wants to make sure he never gives up on his dream. They later go to a mall where Artie imagines himself and Tina (along with a large crowd) dancing to "Safety Dance" but in reality he simply tells Tina that he has not given up on his dream as he believes he will dance one day. Despite this he later tells an upset Tina that she should as Mike Chang to be her dance partner. Tina states that she wants to dance with Artie but nonetheless agrees to dance with Mike on the grounds that Artie sing the song. She and Mike then dance to Artie and the rest of the kids singing "Dream A Little Dream Of Me."

Theatricality
Principal Figgins bans Tina's regular goth attire due to his fear of Vampires and so the rest of New Directions attempts to suggest new looks for her. Rachel then reveals that Vocal Adrenaline are performing a Lady Gaga number and so Mr. Shue states that their assignment is also Gaga, thus allowing Tina to express herself in a new way. Dressing herself in a champagne bubbles dress, Tina walks through the school with Kurt, also in Gaga attire, and is pushed into a locker by Azimio and David Karofsky. Kurt defends Tina but they are both ridiculed by the bullies before joining the rest of New Directions in the choir room. Tina, Kurt and the rest of the girls then perform "Bad Romance." She later watches the rest of the boys perform "Shout It Out Loud" but criticizes Finn sticking his tongue out as it caused her to picture him licking things. After being bullied again by Azimio and Karofsky Tina later states to Kurt that her costumes balls keep falling off.

Tina eventually returns to school in her regular goth clothes and reveals to the club that she refuses to dress up as somebody she is not. She also reveals that she dressed up as a vampire to scare Figgins into letting her wear her regular clothes again. Tina then stands alongside the rest of New Directions to defend Kurt and Finn against Azimio and Karfosky. Finn then proudly states that although they are all "freaks," they are freaks together.

Funk
Jesse returns to Vocal Adrenaline and performs "Another One Bites The Dust" for New Directions as several other Vocal Adrenaline members teepee the choir room. After Tina discovers the mess she is left uneasy as she states it is like someone broke into her home. She later falls into a funk as all signs point to Vocal Adrenaline emerging victorious at Regionals. Mr. Shue eventually pulls everyone out of their funks by arranging a number to scare Vocal Adrenaline. Tina performs "Give Up The Funk" with the rest of New Directions, successfully scaring their rivals.

Journey
While at Mr. Shue's house, Tina begins to cry at the thought of losing Glee and recounts to everyone that prior to joining the glee club she had only two Facebook friends, her parents. Tina then agrees with Rachel's statement at the start of the year and states that being a part of something special has made her special. Mr. Shue soon decides that the kids will perform a medley of Journey songs at Regionals as originally, Tina, Artie, Mercedes, Finn and Rachel convinced him to stay with them by singing "Don't Stop Believin'."

At Regionals, Tina performs the medley of songs with the rest of New Directions and, after the performance, happily states that they have 2nd place in the bag. Quinn soon goes into labor and so Tina and the rest of the club (minus Rachel), accompany her to the hospital where she gives birth to her daughter. Returning to the Regionals arena, New Directions place 3rd overall and thus lose the competition. Back at school, Tina sits with Artie as the club tearfully sings goodbye to Mr. Shue with the song "To Sir, With Love."

Tina is later thrilled to learn that they have been granted another year in Glee and sits with Artie as Mr. Shue and Puck sing "Over The Rainbow."