A librarian living in a totalitarian state is deemed to be obsolete and expendable--since books and independent thinking are banned. So the self-righteous judge sentences him to death. However, and this made no sense to me, the manner of death was just plain silly and overly melodramatic--like the judge was playing with the librarian much like a cat might play with a doomed mouse. In the end, the tables (naturally) are turned.
This seemed like one of the more preachy episodes of The Twilight Zone and is an obvious parable about not just Fascism but the horrors of Communism. Now I am NOT a fan of Communism--but the show is just so obvious and preachy that in the end I could see this show converting the audience to Communism! It just gives Democracies a bad name since it is so incredibly preachy and obvious.