“Kitten” is episode six of season eleven of The X-Files.
The episode opens in the past, and in a different country – near Khe Sahn in Vietnam, 1969. There is a helicopter flying over the jungle. they are transporting a crate for delivery to another company. The men appear to be a bit nervous about transporting the crate. As the helicopter comes in for landing, it comes under fire. The crate – which bears the label MK Naomi (related to MKUltra?) – is transported off by three men and taken to a village. The third man is wounded and left out in the open, as they are supposed to stay with the crate. However, one man leaves the crate to help the wounded man and the building where the crate was left comes under fire. The crate is punctured and yellow gas comes out. It seems the gas causes hallucinations – the man left in the building killed everyone else inside. Then, when the other man comes in he tries to talk his friend out of killing him. And, given that the name of the unaffected man is Skinner, it seems likely he succeeded.
Yet another new opening credits phrase this episode – ‘The War is Never Over’.
In the present, Mulder and Scully are brought in to see Deputy Director Kersh. The DD says he is only going to ask them once – where is he. It seems that Skinner has gone AWOL. Kersh also takes about Skinner’s stalled career – he’s been in the bureau for 35 years and should have advanced further. According to Kersh, this is due to Skinner’s loyalty to Mulder and Scully. Kersh doesn’t believe that Mulder is truly unknowing. He wants Skinner bringing back – he has apparently been poking into something he shouldn’t.
Both Mulder and Scully believe that Skinner’s behaviour has changed recently. Mulder is planning to look for cigarette butts, as he doesn’t trust Skinner currently. A rightful supposition, for the Smoking Man has been around Skinner again. There first stop is Skinner’s apartment in Alexandria. In the apartment is a package to Lance Corporal Walter Skinner, of the U.S. Marine Corps. In the package is a desiccated human ear, wrapped in a piece of newspaper, and a letter simply stating that monsters are here. When Scully tries to look up Skinner’s platoon in Vietnam, she is denied access by the Bureau, because the details are classified Top Secret.
The newspaper leads to a town where the local sheriff has a body in the morgue that is missing an ear. Mulder has a hunch that the dead man was from Skinner’s platoon. The dead man was killed by a hunting trap known to be used in Vietnam, but the deceased was not known to be a Vietnam vet. There is an institution of them outside of town, and a number of people in town have recently had teeth fall out for no reason. People also think they have seen a monster out in the woods.
The logical assumption at this point is that Skinner’s friend from Vietnam who was affected by the gas also survived, and he’s out hunting. Even though the first evidence suggests it’s actually Skinner doing the hunting. Scully thinks that Skinner would not have committed such a clumsy manner. They do not make friends with the local sheriff by defending Skinner.
Skinner’s friend did survive and it seems bears a grudge against him. The grudge is somewhat justified, but Skinner’s friend, John ‘Kitten’ James, was permanently changed by the gas.