This humorous bathroom moment, brought to you by too much wine and mushrooms, serves as a clever opener for the episode. Suetonius provides the evidence for Claudius' eating habits and digestive difficulties, but makes no mention of any favorite thinkin' spot for historical composition. Claudius' on-the-pot rumination provides a transition for the lustral period between episodes: death of Augustus, character of the new reluctant emperor Uncle Tiberius. Claudius sees the death of Germanicus as a pivotal event for Tiberius, the only check on his brutality. This echoes a similar Tiberius take found in Suetonius. In Graves, the last check on Tiberius' proclivities was his ex-wife Vipsania. When she dies, he retires to sex, sin and debauchery on Capri.