As I live-blogged tonight on Blogs4Bauer with my crazy boy friends, I anxiously awaited the “slap scene,” as we called it. We even got one false alarm, then, WHAMMO!

Do I even need to say there are spoilers ahead?

So, since the episode made us wait for the slap scene, I’ll make you wait for my discussion of it.

First off, there’s been discussion on B4B and on Twitter as to whether this was the best ep so far this season or just the best ep ever.

I think the latter may be hyperbole, but if so, not by much. Seeing as Season 7 is shaping up to be awesome on the level of Seasons 2 & 5 (my two faves), seeing as this is the best ep so far makes it definitely up there in the pantheon of awesomeness.

So let me ask this: Does Marika’s death count in Jack’s killcount, seeing as he’s basically responsible for her death? I vote yes.

I honestly believe that Red Hot would have pulled the trigger on Jack if she’d had to, not that it would have actually killed him. Badder folks have tried to kill Jack and failed, after all.

This is what happened tonight:

• Chewbacca is on his deathbed, but Jack cut the chip out of his abdomen before he meets his maker.

• Marika, whom Chewbacca appears to have actually loved, died and Red Hot totally blames him for that.

• No one can maneuver a Ford through D.C. traffic like Jack Bauer.

• The President and her daughter have a very troubled relationship. And the president’s gonna regret going back to the White House.

• Tony knows more than he’s letting on.

• Red Hot’s the first person to slap Jack in the face in eons and live. If she does it again, I’m thinking … maybe not so lucky.

• Queens Boulevard is a much slimier guy than I ever gave him credit for. His blonde girlfriend is both smarter (who would have guessed that she was capable of crashing the entire FBI mainframe?) and dumber (c’mon, woman, the guy says he loves you and suddenly you’re all gooey?) than I’d given her credit/blamed her for.

• Chloe is THE BOMB. Seriously, no one else on this planet could have held onto that data. I love her. Even though she looked constipated. She was extremely pregnant when these episodes were filmed, though, so that probably affected her mood somewhat.

• Larry is still a lame-o. This is 24, folks. Someone invokes his constitutional rights and that’s the end of the conversation? Queens Boulevard asks to speak to his attorney, you tell him this, “I’ve got your attorney here. His name is Jack Bauer.”

And the slap.

First, verbal: Red Hot invokes Teri Bauer. You could see Jack flinch. That hurt more than the physical slaps, which barely affected Jack. He even felt badly for Red Hot. She’s not used to collateral damage.

The whole point of 24 is that Jack absolutely feels every death. He feels every death he’s ever caused. But he feels them later. He can’t react to them when they happen; he doesn’t have the luxury. He needs to do what he needs to do, to keep this country safe.

Now the President is going to argue on his behalf, with the Senator who doesn’t care that Jack had reasons to do what he needed to do.

And that Senator’s assistant is gonna try not to die, hmmmm?

Next week’s a TWO HOUR EPIC. I am quite excited. I’ll be live blogging with the boys over at Blogs4Bauer, naturally.