Kitten
Written by Gabe Rotter
Directed by Carol Banker
Directed by Carol Banker
"Yeah, you said I wouldn't find Kitten. But is, is Kitten a person? Is that somebody's nickname?"
— Fox Mulder
Mulder and Scully search for Skinner, who has gone AWOL to right a wrong from his Vietnam War past. His trail leads to Davey James (Haley Joel Osment), the son of a war veteran who came back different due to a mysterious crate's contents.
Tropes:
- Cacophony Cover Up: Davey puts on a vinyl record to cover up the sound of Skinner's cries in the pit.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: There is no cell signal in John and Davey's neighborhood. Justified in that it's miles outside a small town in rural Kentucky.
- Character Title: "Kitten" was a nickname given to John, Skinner's fellow soldier from a platoon where they both served in.
- Continuity Nod: Two of them referencing Skinner's Vietnam War monologue in "One Breath".
- At one point, he mentioned an incident where a North Vietnamese kid walked into Skinner's camp wearing grenades, which forced the latter to "bl[ow] his head off from a distance of ten yards". A flashback in this episode shows this event.
- The ending of this episode had Skinner tell Mulder and Scully that he optimistically enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 18. The same thing was said in that past episode.
- Distressed Dude: Scully comes to the rescue of both Mulder and Skinner in the pit, and shoots Davey before he lights the guys on fire.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Davey ends up impaled and killed by the trap he was intending to drop on Mulder and Scully.
- In-Series Nickname: The code names for John and Skinner in the Vietnam War were Kitten and Eagle, respectively.
- Pit Trap: Skinner falls down one, and is impaled on a spike at the bottom.
- Psycho Serum: The green gas exposed to the soldiers in Vietnam, and again in present-day Mud Lick, KY.
- Spikes of Doom: In the pit, and in the falling trap from the trees.
- The Vietnam Vet: Lots of them are living in Mud Lick, since a mental hospital for them is close by.
"I owe him that. I owe myself that."
