Tinchel

Tinchel is the femslash ship between Rachel Berry and Tina Cohen-Chang from the Glee fandom.

Season One
Rachel and Tina are both original members of the New Directions, introduced in the "Pilot". Their first notable interaction occurs when the glee club sings "You're the One That I Want" from Grease. Rachel, as Sandy, gets incredibly into the performance, including sliding her hands across the bodies and faces of the other glee club members. Her hands are seen very clearly pressed against Tina's chest, and Tina appears to be smiling or laughing at the interaction.

A few episodes later, Tina is given her first solo, "Tonight", with the glee club. Rachel, however, is upset because she insists that any songs from "West Side Story" should go to her. Tina is later seen practicing, and when she doesn't give a perfect performance she tries to return the solo to Rachel. Mr. Schue intervenes, however, and encourages Tina to stick with it.

Rachel and Tina are seen walking the hallways together in "Mash-Up", trying to avoid being slushied. They discuss their respective boy problems -- Rachel with Jesse, and Tina with Artie -- in "The Power of Madonna". Then they, along with the rest of the female glee club members, perform "Express Yourself".

Season Two
In the season two premiere "Audition", Tina is seen calling Rachel an "ambitious little freak who'll do anything to hold onto her power". This occurs after it is revealed that Rachel sent Sunshine Corazon to a crackhouse because she was jealous of her talents. In "Furt", Tina is one of the girls that Rachel asks to help stop Kurt from being bullied. In "Special Education", Rachel insists that Mercedes and Tina share a duet to celebrate their win at Sectionals.

In "Comeback", Rachel decides that she wants to become more popular. To do so, she tries to pay Brittany to dress like her. The plan backfires, however, when everyone starts hailing Brittany as the fashion icon. Tina is seen later in the episode in a carousel horse sweater and a plaid skirt. When Rachel insists that Brittany got the style from her, Tina calls Rachel a bad liar.

In "Born This Way", Tina tries to convince Rachel away from getting a nose job. Rachel points out that Tina is a hypocrite, as she's wearing blue contacts, and Tina agrees that there are things about herself that she wants to change. However, she admits that she would never make a permanent change and that Rachel's desire for a nose job has changed her own opinion on herself.

Season Three
In "Heart", Tina is shown to be very encouraging of Rachel's engagement to Finn. She offers to be one of her bridesmaids, after Quinn and Kurt both decry the wedding.

In "Props", Tina announces that she is sick of being a background player in glee club. The seniors remind her that soon they'll graduate and it will be her time to shine, but Tina says it's not good enough. She storms out of the choir room, and Mike follows her. He tells Tina that Rachel is a star and so they have to let her shine. Tina is incredibly upset by this, and storms off. Later, while at the mall buying fabric for Nationals costumes, Tina trips and falls into a fountain. She hits her head, and has a dream where everyone in New Directions switches bodies. In her dream, Tina is in the body of Rachel. Tina (as Rachel) approaches Rachel (as Tina) in the hallway and compliments her on being such a good back-up performer. She tells her that she'll shine next year, and offers her a hug.

When Tina wakes from her dream, she goes to find Rachel. Rachel apologizes for treating Tina like a prop, but Tina says that perhaps this is her role to play in the glee club. She then tries to pass on all of the advice that dream-Rachel gave to her about Rachel's NYADA audition. They decide to drive together to confront Madam Tibideaux. In the car, they discuss Rachel's upcoming wedding to Finn and the encroaching Nationals competition. Tina asks if they can share a duet together before Rachel graduates. Although their meeting with Madam Tibideaux doesn't go as well as they may have hoped, Tina stands up for Rachel and calls her "exceptional". At the end of the episode the two perform "Flashdance" together.

In "Goodbye", Rachel and Tina share a brief look as Mr. Schuester talks about saying goodbye to the graduating seniors.

Season Four
In the season four premiere "The New Rachel", Tina, Blaine, Brittany and Unique host a sing-off to see who will take Rachel's spot as the new lead vocalist of New Directions. Tina is quick to remind everyone that Rachel told her before graduating that she would be the New Rachel. However, no one seems to take this into account and the title instead goes to Blaine.

Season Five
In "100", Tina and Rachel are seen in the choir room discussing Rachel's impending Broadway debut. Tina is later seen voting for Rachel in her Diva-Off against Mercedes.

In "New Directions" Tina again is knocked unconscious and experiences an alternative reality dream. This time she, Rachel, Blaine, Sam, Kurt, Santana, and Artie are in a Friends parody. Tina is playing the role of Rachel Green and Rachel is playing the role of Monica Gellar; the two characters are best friends and roommates in the show. However, Rachel and Tina do not directly interact in this dream. When Tina wakes up, her head is resting on Rachel's lap. At graduation, Rachel and Mike Chang are seen holding up signs that say "Queen T 4-Ever".

In "Opening Night", Tina comes to New York to see Rachel's Broadway debut. She brings flowers, and is excited for Rachel. She begins talking about commenters she's seen online, both ones that are excited for the Funny Girl revival and others that are more negative. This upsets Rachel, who retires to her room. Tina feels bad and tries to make things better the next day, even forging a note from Barbra Streisand (misspelled Barbara) with words of encouragement. Tina attends the opening night performance, and goes out to celebrate with Rachel and the rest of their friends. The next morning when Rachel stands up to Sue Sylvester, Tina is seen clapping for her. She joins Rachel and the others when they go out to buy a copy of the New York Times, and is seen hugging Rachel as they read the review.

Season Six
"2009" is a prequel episode to the Pilot. Tina watches as her friends dump food on Rachel in the cafeteria, and when she and Artie comment on it they are dared to join the glee club. Rachel is later seen calling Tina and the other original member of New Directions her friends.

In "Dreams Come True", Rachel and Tina are seen together in the five year flash-forward to 2020. As Rachel prepares for the Tony Awards, Tina asks about why she agreed to be a surrogate for Kurt and Blaine. Tina stays behind at Rachel's apartment to watch the awards show on TV, and cheers for Rachel when she wins Best Actress in a Musical.

Fanon
Tinchel is considered to be a rarepair in the Glee fandom. It is often overshadowed by more popular ships for Rachel, such as Finchel and Faberry, and Tina, such as Tike and Quinntina. Rachel has also never been known to treat Tina particularly well, which may detract from the ship. However, for fans they may enjoy this dynamic and want to see Rachel grow as a person in her relationship with Tina. The ship gained popularity with the episode "Props" and the idea that Tina would take over us the "New Rachel" in season four, but when this did not pan out and Tina had a rather abrupt personality change the ship lost steam.

Tinchel currently has over 10 works on AO3.

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