Noel is first seen in the locker room scene that starts the episode. After Scott tells Stiles about Chris Argent shooting him (specific lines: "Remember the hunters? Her dad is one of them." "Her dad?" "Shot me..." "Allison's father?!" "...with a crossbow.") Noel walks up and says "What are we saying about crossbows?" He starts tying all the laces of his lacrosse uniform, oblivious to the severity of the conversation happening right in front of him.
Neither Stiles nor Scott elaborate, which makes Noel jump even more aggressively than he would have when Scott yells "YES, HER FATHER!!" While Scott and Stiles have their lines that run all over each other, Noel is standing parallel to the camera, saying things like "What's happening? What are we talking about? Whose father?" He follows Stiles and Scott out of the locker room to the lacrosse field on coach's whistle, getting in one last "Whose father?" before the camera cuts.
—
During lacrosse practice in the next scene, Coach yells "Whittemore!" Both Jackson and Noel look up, the latter looking excited and hopeful. Coach yells "Not you, the good one!" to which Noel frowns and Jackson smirks, slamming his shoulder roughly into Noel's. Noel jogs off while Jackson follows Coach's orders to get a long stick for practice that day.
—
Noel stands behind Stiles and Scott in the line for shooting practice, his face a mirror image of Stiles' with concern for Scott as his anger takes over him.
Out of familial necessity, he doesn't go to Scott's side after his collision with Jackson. He instead goes to his cousin, watching as Stiles and Scott jog off the field together. As he watches, he sees Derek, his eyes widening when Derek makes eye contact with him before the screen flashes to black.
—
Noel is not seen or mentioned again until the skype call between Scott and Stiles. When Scott asks Stiles what he found out, Stiles replies "Well, according to Noel, it's bad. Jackson's got a separated shoulder." The scene continues in alignment with canon.
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Later in the episode when Scott meets Allison in the hallway, their conversation is kept 100% canon, Allison simply adding "Tell Stiles and Noel to come too." instead of just "Tell Stiles to come too."
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When Scott goes to confront Derek about Allison later in the episode, Derek's line changes slightly to not name drop neither Stiles nor Noel ("You think your little buddies can just Google 'werewolves' and now you have all the answers. Is that it?"). After the initial conversation but before throwing the lacrosse stick for Scott to catch, Derek adds "And by the way, tell your little Whittemore friend to stay the hell off my property."
"Jackson was here?" Scott asks, shocked for lack of a better word at the revelation.
"Not him. The other one," Derek says.
"Noel? He's hardly my friend," Scott says and stares at Derek in disbelief.
Derek looks amused, saying "Good. Then it'll be easy for you to tell him I'll kill him the next time I see him around here."
With that, Derek throws the lacrosse stick and disappears. As Scott looks around for him, Noel can be seen hidden in the treeline, listening in on the conversation looking horrified and breathing heavily. The scene cuts.
—
During the hospital scene, Noel can be seen sitting beside Lydia outside of Jackson's room. Lydia is listening to Noel rant and ramble, seemingly uninterested and wishing she was anywhere else.
Enter Stiles, saying his "Hey, Lydia!" line with his canon enthusiasm. After that, he tacks on a passive and half pissed off "Noel," before continuing to talk to Lydia. Stiles says his line "I always thought we had this kind of connection," to which Noel snickers and Stiles glares at him. As Stiles continues his talking, Noel sits slightly blurred in the background behind Lydia watching Stiles. When she finally reveals that she has a bluetooth in, Noel looks just as shocked as Stiles. The two exchange twin looks of "Dammit, that really just happened to both of us" and Noel slumps in his seat like a pouty child while Stiles takes his seat around the corner.
—
Later when Jackson comes out and has his kiss with Lydia, Noel rolls his eyes and walks away from his cousin and crush (who of course don't notice his absence) to go sit beside Stiles. This pulls him into the main conflict for the remainder of the episode.
When Stiles says "So he did bury the other half of the body on his property." Noel looks frightened and looks down at his hands (this is barely noticeable to the viewer however). He follows Scott and Stiles wordlessly as they leave the hospital, looking tense.
—
As the three boys approach the grave on Derek's property, Noel carries a shovel and says "Guys, I don't know how I feel about this.." Both Scott and Stiles say their own variations of "shut up" ("Quiet down" and "Just stop talking" respectively). When Scott first starts digging at the grave, Noel gasps in what sounds like pain and falls down to his knees. Scott looks at him strangely and asks him what's wrong. Noel smiles weakly and says he's fine, but he obviously isn't.
Suddenly we get a shot of Noel after another hiss of pain, still on his knees holding his head in his hands. He takes a deep breath in and we get a flashback.
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Noel is wearing a flannel shirt over a white tank top, walking on the treeline by the Hale property. He looks frightened, his lips parted slightly and his hands in his pockets. He looks around (presumably for any sign of Derek) before sneaking up to the side of the house by Laura's grave. He looks down at the mound of dirt and takes off his flannel, sinking down to his knees and looking around for Derek once again. When he confirmed that the werewolf was nowhere in sight, he got down on his knees and knelt on top of the grave. He took up a handful of dirt in one hand and clenched into a fist, watching as the soft earth fell from between his fingers. He looked down at the dirt beneath him, bending over and pressing his forehead to it.
A shot of Derek shows up on the screen, watching Noel from one of the windows of the old former Hale house. However, Derek doesn't look concerned or angry. He looks curious, his eyebrows knit together as Noel kneels with his head to the grave below him. Noel takes a deep breath in and exhales, saying "Tell me why you brought me here.."
He takes up a handful of dirt once again, this time taking it with him as he walks back toward the trail he had taken to get to the house. Another shot of Derek comes up, watching Noel leave as his expression turns from curiosity to anger.
—
The flashback ends with Stiles tapping the back of Noel's head with his shovel, saying "If you're gonna be here, help out a little. Or at least move so I can dig." Noel obediently moves off the grave, watching silently as Scott and Stiles work.
Scott eventually says "This is taking way too long." to which Stiles replies "It would go by a lot faster if Crazy Eyes over there would pitch in a little." He gestures over his shoulder at Noel, who appears to be in a trance. Stiles rolls his eyes and says "Just keep going." as he and Scott continue their task. Scott expresses his concern again, saying "What if [Derek] comes back?" Stiles replies "We get the hell out of here!" Scott sounds exasperated as he says "What if he catches us?" Stiles, with a grin, says "I have a plan for that." Scott asks what the plan is, and Stiles replies with a slight smile "Trip Noel so he's stuck back here with Derek, and then run off in opposite directions. After he finishes eating Noel, whoever he catches next after that, too bad."
"I hate that plan," Noel and Scott say in unison, Stiles throwing his hands up and yelling "Oh, he speaks!"
—
After the boys uncover the wolf that's buried, Noel screams along with them and breathes heavily. He looks down at the pocket of this jeans, which is slightly bulged. He puts his hand inside, pulling out a pinch of dirt. When Stiles says "This doesn't make sense." Noel says "It makes sense if our Jane Doe was a werewolf." Stiles and Scott look at him before they start to rebury the body. Before they can start, Noel lets the dirt in his hand fall onto the wolf and he helps the boys fill the grave in after that.
Noel follows Stiles' gaze to the wolfsbane growing a few feet away, When Stiles answer's Scott's question with "I think it's wolfsbane," Noel says "Why would wolfsbane be growing right there of all places?"
Stiles shakes his head with a shrug and has his canon conversation with Scott before starting to pull on the wolfsbane rope. Noel bites his lip the more Stiles uncurls it, saying "Stop, stop, I don't like this!" Stiles ignores him and keeps on, until Scott finally gets his attention and reveals the now human body.
—
Noel can be seen in the scene after the commercial standing with Scott and watching as Stiles confronts Derek. All three boys get in the jeep afterward and drive away while there's werewolf talk and research being done by Scott. "Why not leave me in charge of the research," Noel says, sticking his head forward between the seats from where he sits in the back. "Scott's great and all, but you and I are the cool techy werewolf research team, Stiles."
When Noel says this, Stiles slams on the breaks and Noel flies forward between them and yelps as he faceplants. "Try putting on your seatbelt to protect that research-y brain of yours, Whittemore," Stiles says as Scott holds back laughter. Noel glares at Stiles before sitting back down in his seat, after which Stiles and Scott have their conversation.
When Scott begins to have a hard time controlling his anger, Noel seems sympathetic and offers up a "Scott, breathe." before Stiles makes the situation worse by telling Scott to just accept the whole werewolf thing.
Scott chokes out an "I can't breathe!" to which Noel puts a hand on his shoulder and Scott slaps it off angrily. Noel looks up at Stiles and says "Stiles, pull over!" Scott repeats the phrase, but Stiles asks "Why, what's happening?" Noel rolls his eyes and yells in unison with Scott "Stiles, pull over!" Stiles yet again doesn't pull over, and the wolfsbane in Stiles' backpack is revealed. Noel's eyes widen and he looks confused.
"You kept it?!" Scott yells in shock, to which Stiles replies "What was I supposed to do with it?!" Noel sticks his head up and says "Maybe not bring it into the car when there's a freaking werewolf in your passenger's seat!!"
Scott screams to stop the car, and when Stiles finishes throwing his backpack far away, he gets back into the jeep to see Noel staring out the back window in shock at where Scott ran into the woods.
"You didn't even try to stop him?!" Stiles asks angrily, to which Noel silently holds up his arm with four long red claw marks running down it. They aren't deep enough to bleed very much, but they look painful. Stiles stares at the scratches and then back at the trees, saying "Awe, Scott," in disbelief before the commercial break.
He has moved to the front seat in the next scene, having no lines but looking out the window for Scott as Stiles speaks into the radio.
—
In the locker room before the lacrosse game, he is seen standing behind Jackson and being ignored by his cousin. Scott keeps looking at him and down at his arm, where a long white bandage sits. He follows Jackson out of the locker room, giving Scott a parting smile as he does.
—
Later on the field, while Stiles sits on the bench, Noel sits beside Jackson in silence. Coach scoots him out of the way toward Stiles to speak with Jackson, and that brings Noel back into the Sciles drama.
When Jackson gets a point, Noel seems excited, obviously still fruitlessly trying to win his cousin's approval.
When Lydia and Allison hold up their "We Luv U Jackson" sign, Noel grits his teeth and nods along to Stiles' "That's brutal." comment.
When Scott gets his point, Noel cheers along with Stiles before saying "Oh no. Jackson." The camera cuts to Jackson's utterly pissed expression.
For basically the whole scene, Noel is a mirror of Stiles' feelings and energy toward the game. The two have a few short moments of banter between them, but nothing intense or serious. He isn't with Stiles or Scott a few scenes later in the locker room, but is still on the field cleaning up.
—
When Jackson finds Scott's punctured glove and sees Derek for the first time, Noel sees Derek as well from where he stands. He jumps and waits a minute before yelling to Jackson to get his attention. Jackson turns and looks at his cousin briefly, but turns back and finds Derek gone. Little does he know that Noel was watching Derek the whole time and watched him speed off into the woods.
—
The last shot of the episode is Noel, looking scared as he stares at the treeline where Derek disappeared.