Like Time Enough at Last, this episode shows that the series is hitting its stride. A peddler of apparent junk gives away innocuous items – a pair of scissors, a bus ticket, a leaky fountain pen – to people who need them. As it turns out, those items are just what they need.
The bus ticket goes to a ball player down on his luck, who needs to get to the town where the ticket goes so he can land a manager’s job, and the scissors help someone cut his scarf loose from an elevator that will otherwise strangle him. The only problem is that this latter fellow wants to then use the foretelling powers for his own personal gain.
This ends up not being such a good idea, as the peddler turns the tables on the would-be bully, letting him take what the peddler needs, a pair of slick-soled shoes, that end up costing the bully his life on a cobblestone street as he tries to chase down the peddler. A bit slow, but nicely done.
