Noel Crane is a principal character on Felicity, portrayed by Scott Foley.
Character[]
Noel is a capable, smart, cute and funny guy, who considers himself a geek and sometimes rambles nervously when he's out on a limb. He is a dedicated student, well-versed in graphic design and suffers a minority complex at times, due to his older brother's success (in graphic design, no less), which is exacerbated by his romantic rivalry with Ben for Felicity's affections. Following his sophomore year, Noel feels like he loses his way in life and becomes depressive at times. Eventually, Noel finds out who he is and what his life is going to be as an adult. As a sophomore, Noel is the resident advisor on Felicity's floor.
Story[]
SOPHOMORE
After a presumably quiet freshman year, while in a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend Hanna, Noel decides to become a floor RA at Kelvin Hall. Through this position, he encounters an array of strange incidents and people, which leads him into strange situations or positions at times. He quickly befriends Julie and develops a crush on Felicity, while eventually becoming friends with Elena.
When Noel sees Felicity for the first time in her dorm room, he is instantly taken with her, despite being in a relationship. Felicity quickly catches on to Noel's crush on her, but they develop a friendship, albeit with a mutual attraction brewing underneath. Noel tries his best to be a good floor R.A. but is constantly tried by Richard's zany schemes, most of which aren't allowed, leaving Noel to have an unwanted feud with Richard. Most of the students like Noel and come to him for advice, though some have some weird issues with their roommates that Noel is sometime in disbelief that he has to handle as they're so outlandish. He becomes friends with Elena around Halloween, when she takes issue with having a witch decoration on her door and they talk about why she doesn't like Halloween, agreeing to go to the Halloween party at The Loft together, as friends.
When Noel and Felicity hang out one day, he spontaneously kisses her. He asks her to dinner to tell her that he actually has a girlfriend, which nobody knows up until that point. Felicity thinks it's a date and calls Julie as she is nervous because she really likes Noel. When Noel tells Felicity about Hanna, she is appalled and yells at him at the restaurant. She then leaves in a huff. They make up, but Noel still doesn't know how to deal with his feelings for her, despite staying with Hanna, while struggling to quell his jealousy of Felicity's crush on Ben. Their situation comes to a head around Thanksgiving, when Hanna comes to visit the dorms and Felicity is very jealous. Noel and Hanna break up and Felicity and Noel share a kiss.
As winter finals roll around, they try to stay focused and agree to DTR after finals, but find it difficult to stay away from each other. In order to do well on his exams, Noel agrees to try some of Meghan's mysterious Smart Powder to help with concentration. It backfires aggressively as Noel has an allergic reaction to it and becomes hyper, like he's on speed. In his distressed state, he sees Felicity and Ben talking, as she's helping Ben with poetry, and he is unable to restrain himself, barging in to the quiet study room and screaming at them. Felicity gets annoyed and leaves in a huff, while Ben helps a strung out Noel feel better. Noel later explains what happened and they agree to start their relationship when they return from the holidays.
Relationships[]
- Felicity Porter
- Main article: Felicity and Noel
Noel sees Felicity for the first time talking on the phone with her parents in her room, when he comes to introduce himself as the RA, and is instantly mesmerised. They start a flirtation, where Noel is dismayed at Felicity's infatuation with Ben. Eventually Noel kisses Felicity, after which he tells her that he actually has a girlfriend. Felicity is mad at him but they make up and agree to be friends, despite harbouring feelings for each other. This culminates when Hanna visits at Thanksgiving. Noel and Hanna break up and he starts a relationship with Felicity. They're happy together, but when an old friend of Felicity visits New York and awakens her latent passion for art, things change. Felicity delves into the art scene at university, while Noel promises to help Hanna with her music. Felicity gets jealous but tries to be understanding, until she starts to feel like she might be losing Noel. When he leaves with Hanna, Felicity goes to the art studio and ends up spontaneously sleeping with one of the art students, Eli. After the fact, Noel and Felicity can't get past hurting each other and break up. Despite being hurt, they admit that they love each other and want each other back. They get back together briefly, but then Ben kisses Felicity and she finds herself torn between the boys.
She chooses to go on a road trip with Ben for the summer, breaking Noel's heart and her own as he doesn't want anything to do with her. Despite his anger, they tentatively try to find their way back to being in each other's lives and Felicity apologises for how she hurt him. They are also, once again, drawn to each other in spite of themselves, and get jealous when both start dating other people. When Noel gets drunk at Thanksgiving, they kiss and are caught by their arts professor, who happens to be the mother of the guy Felicity is dating, who is also there, along with Felicity's parents. Despite the awkwardness that ensues in class, Felicity and Noel realise they want to be together. But Felicity decides not to pursue her feelings when she sees how upset Ruby is. Noel stays with Ruby, who soon gets pregnant, leaving him occupied with a very serious situation. He eventually learns that he's not the father and Ruby cheated on him, although he still decides to be there for her as a friend. Meanwhile, Felicity starts seeing a pre-med student at the clinic where she works off her community service, but is eventually courted by Ben and gets back together with him at the end of her sophomore year, while Noel finishes his junior year lost and confused, eventually disappearing with Javier's cousin, Natalie.
Noel doesn't return for the start of his senior year, leaving everyone very worried, especially Felicity. When they find out that he goes by an alias - Leon - and married Natalie, they're all shocked. Despite trying to help Noel, they host an intervention and Noel is furious. Felicity goes after him and they manage to talk. He confesses to her that his junior year was a blur. That Ruby was a distracting for him from his and Felicity's break-up, and then suddenly he found himself lost. Noel decides to end the marriage and comes back to school, while Felicity is all in on her relationship with Ben, which is very unstable. Despite being back at school Noel still feels lost and when he collaborates on an animation project with Felicity, her mother realises that Noel is in love with her. Felicity rejects the notion, but is shocked to learn that it's true, which Ben also points out after finding the break-up kit that Noel made for her. It culminates in Noel kissing Felicity when they TP the school together, but she rejects him. He finds himself unable to be friends with her, which devastates Felicity. They do, however, end up being the only ones left in the city for the summer.
After spending practically every day of the entire summer together and being totally in sync, Felicity and Ben have issues as he returns laser-focused on pre-med and becoming a doctor, while Felicity is lost and unsure about her future. Noel and Felicity getting so close results in them having sex together for the first time, on the roof of The Loft. Afterwards, Felicity rejects Noel once again, saying she wants to be with Ben, and tries to continue that relationship without revealing that she cheated. Noel accidentally tells Ben, and Ben breaks up with Felicity. Meanwhile, Noel has become depressed, which culminates in him bailing on Thanksgiving with his brother and getting arrested for solicitation after going home with a woman at a bar who robs him. Noel agrees to start therapy and gradually tries to put his life back together, although it's hard. He finds work at a graphics design company, where he meets Zoe Webb, whom he starts seeing. Felicity, meanwhile, goes back and forth with Ben, who ends up having a child with is father's ex-girlfriend, and eventually stays with Ben in California.
In the epilogue, Ben cheats on Felicity and when she attends Noel's wedding to Zoe she feels like she made the wrong choice. Meghan casts a spell that sends Felicity back to the start of her senior year, on that rooftop with Noel. She immediately decides that she wants to be with Noel, who is confused and surprised, but happy that she chooses him. Felicity altering events in the past, however, leads to Noel dying in the fire at the university, and Felicity seeks out the author of Meghan's book to travel back to the present. Eventually she is succesful, or so she thinks - it turns out to all have been a dream, as Felicity got a fever and her friends worried about her. Ben shows up at the wedding and Felicity reluctantly takes him back.
Noel and Hanna went to the same high school and started dating when Noel was a senior and Hanna was a junior. They are together for two years, doing long-distance in Noel's freshman year at UNY. When Hanna visits Noel in his sophomore year, he's torn between her and Felicity, and eventually breaks up with Hannah. While in a relationship with Felicity, Hanna asks Noel for help with her music and he cheats on Felicity; they do not sleep together.
Ruby is in a class where Noel is a TA (teacher's assistant). They became a couple and are going steady for the first half of season two. It all came to a halt when Ruby is offered a role in a movie that is shooting in Las Vegas. Soon after she comes back, she discovers that she is pregnant. Noel is first believed to be the father, until Ruby has an ultrasound which confirms the date of the conception was when she was away for the movie. She admits to having an affair with a director and leaves New York to raise her baby back home with her parents.
Julie and Noel become friends through living in the dorms and get along very well. In Noel's junior year, he and Julie become closer following their mutual betrayal by Felicity. In the spring, they hang out more and Julie becomes interested in Noel.
Noel is happy to escape with Natalie and mesmerised by her adventurous nature, which is so opposite to his own, while she likes his kind heart and that they are so different. Despite Noel being in a weird place in his personal life during their relationship, they do enjoy spending time together, evidence by the fact that they continue dating even after getting the annulment as they do genuinely care about each other. Natalie's jet-setting lifestyle becomes too much for Noel after a while, which is part of the reason they split.
Trivia[]
- Noel prefers Macs to PCs
- BEHIND THE SCENES
- Scott Foley and Jennifer Garner (Hanna Bibb) married in real life after meeting on the show.
Website[]
Noel designs his own website portfolio to stand out in his job search.
Photos[]
Media[]
- "Felicity" Character Launches Website (E! ONLINE • NOVEMBER 1998)