CJ's threat of assassination
Does the episode ever clear up the mystery of who would want to kill CJ? I must have missed that.
shareEssentially, yes. In the episode "Posse Comitatus" we learn by dialogue (from Secret Service agent Ron) that the suspect was identified and taken into custody (all off-camera), so C.J.'s danger was eliminated. But as you'd likely remember, the unseen stalker's identity or motive was no longer on her mind -- or ours -- by that point.
Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.
the fact that they never really explained WHY the guy wanted to kill her, or why he didn't when he clearly had several great opportunities to do so always bugged me. Looking back i almost feel like they did it to shoehorn in a romance with the secret service guy and kill him to make Cj sad at the end of the season.
sharePeople who have read enough about director Alfred Hitchcock will recognize his theory of the recurring plot device which he called "the MacGuffin." In effect, the practice is to get a story moving through establishing some object which characters initially need to identify or recover; but eventually (as in NOTORIOUS or NORTH BY NORTHWEST) what the characters had sought becomes less important to the audience than the relationship that develops between characters.
So C.J.'s offscreen stalker in this West Wing story arc was a MacGuffin: not "to shoehorn in a romance with the Secret Service guy" as you phrased it, but to bring that particular Secret Service guy into contact with C.J. The romance emerged through the terrific writing (and performances); so after the offscreen stalker was tracked and captured offscreen by other agents, the perp's motivation and identity no longer mattered to the couple -- or to most viewers. (That includes me, as well as every person who has ever discussed this story with me.)
Does that make sense to you?
Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.