Picking up on this hint, I looked at the letters around the word breaks in the theme answers, and found what I was looking for: L/POT, TO/PL, and T/POL – anagrams of the word "PLOT." ...

THOUGHT POLICE (52A: Antagonists in George Orwell's "1984") PLOT TWIST: Each theme answer contains an anagram of the word PLOT: SMAL L POT ATOES, WE AIM TO PL EASE, and THOUGH T POL ICE.