Jane Espenson

Jane Espenson and Anne Cofell Saunders talk to SyFy Portal

The following story contains a MAJOR SPOILER from the "Battlestar Galactica" episode "Maelstrom."

Having the threat of a bad guy showing up any minute can be a welcome distraction to life’s problems. But when those threats are removed, even for a short time, it doesn’t take long to remember that there are some aspects of life that really suck.

The absence of the Cylons from the mid-part of "Battlestar Galactica’s" Season 3 did just that, allowing writers such as Jane Espenson and Anne Cofell Saunders to explore some of the internal issues churning among the people in the ragtag fleet. Class disenfrachisement was the topic of the day with the pair’s most recent episode, "Dirty Hands," which featured Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) trying to fight for the little guy.

"I wasn’t in on the planning of Season 3 or the [episodes] preceding it for that matter, so I can’t really comment on the timing of it other than to say that things like class struggles are typically set aside in the face of outside threats (like Cylons), so it makes perfect sense to me that something like that would lie dormant until a period of relative peace," Espenson recently told SyFy Portal’s Michael Hinman. "When the outside threat goes away, everyone remembers that all those old resentments are still around."

"Dirty Hands" was the second episode Espenson — a former co-executive producer with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" — wrote for BSG following last year’s popular "The Passage." Her work has impressed the powers to be on the show — executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick — so much that Espenson said she will be working on the show full time in the fourth season.

Saunders, who has served as story editor this season while penning two episodes, said "Dirty Hands" was a chance to feature Douglas, who doesn’t always get a chance to showcase his talent.

"All of us were excited to do a Tyrol episode ... Aaron Douglas is an amazing actor," Saunders told SyFy Portal. "When the Cylons and humans are kicking the crap out of each other, nobody on deck — or on the tylium ship — has time to think about social justice. It’s only during the lulls in the fighting where characters have time to count the costs."

But what about the costs of officers and crew crossing the line? Adm. Adama (Edward James Olmos) seems to have a stash of "Get out of Jail Free" cards at his disposal, and at first glance allowed some of the people under his command like Tyrol and Helo (Tehmoh Penikett) to exist in almost anarchy. However, looks can be deceiving, and "Dirty Hands" is an example of that, the writers said.

"I don’t think Tigh would agree that he got off easy this season," said Saunders, referring to the former XO still not returning to his old position. "Tyrol will carry his faceoff with Adama with him for the rest of the series. Just because Cally (Nicki Clyne) didn’t eat a bullet doesn’t mean that Tyrol isn’t really torn up about what went down in ’Dirty Hands.’ That kind of emotional hardball doesn’t let anyone off easy."

But when you’re down to just 40,000 people left of an entire civilization, some with specific skillsets, any commander would have his hands tied when those that are acting up are the only ones that can do their job as effectively as they do. And characters like Tyrol has enjoyed some benefits because of it, from a story standpoint.

"I don’t think there’s anyone in the fleet who can do what Tyrol does," Espenson said. "And I’d be surprised if there are really legions of fans who are clamoring to watch him sitting idle in the brig without storylines for episode after episode while ships go unmaintained. This fleet is in a situation without precedent, and Adama seems to me to be doing a pretty good job of making sure that the consequences are harsh enough to sting, but not so harsh that they’re counter-productive."

Some might say that some of the stronger women on the show had a rough time this year, especially when it came to meetings with the Grim Reaper. Among the casualties in the third season included Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon), D’Anna Biers (Lucy Lawless) who was boxed, Kat (Luciana Carro) and last Sunday Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff). But even those of the male persuasion had a difficult year since the third season started, Saunders said.

"What about poor Duck (Christian Tessier)?" Saunders asked. "Gaius Baltar (James Callis) had a very rough year. And don’t forget Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) almost got chucked out an airlock. And Lee (Jamie Bamber) had to watch Starbuck die. I’d say the guys got their fair share."

No matter what the writers try to do to show long-range story arcs, there is still a contingent of fans that believe the production crew is basically making up the story as they go along. Tying the "eye of jupiter" to a painting on Starbuck’s wall in the beginning of Season 2 is an example of that, those particular fans say, because they believe it to be retroactive continuity.

Whether it was planned from the beginning or not, being aware of all the nuances from past stories is what helps separate the great storytellers from mere writers, Espenson said.

"There are shows where the future plans extend no father than the next 40 minutes of screen time, if that," she said. "A whole season [like BSG]? I’d call that impressive. So imagine my delight when I recently began full-time at BSG and learned that there are (and have been) plans that extend far longer into the future than one season!"

While many fans may be focusing on whether or not Starbuck had her hand on the eject lever before her Viper exploded in "Maelstrom," there are things that viewers tend to overlook in the series, especially nit-picky items.

"I keep wondering where they’re getting their paper," Espenson said of the members of the fleet. "That’s why I put that reference to a ’paper shortage’ in ’The Passage.’ And yet Baltar found enough paper to publish an underground book? Hmmm. Why aren’t we talking about that?"

If the paper shortage is addressed again, it won’t be this season. Both Espenson and Saunders have wrapped up their writing work for the third season, but already have episode work planned for Season 4. Until then, they are using their time to develop stories, and reflect a little bit of what was Season 3.

"I adored ’Unfinished Business,’" Espenson said about the episode centered around solving past issues with a pair of boxing gloves. "I thought it was so satisfying to go back and fill in some of the skipped time. And it was packed with emotion! I loved it! A show is only as good as its characters, and I thought that episode really let them live and breathe."

Saunders had a hard time disagreeing with that, but also felt that there was an even earlier episode to remember for the third season as well.

"I also loved ’Unfinished Business,’" Saunders said. "It was great going back and imagining what life was like on New Caprica before the Cylons arrived. I also think that [writers] David Weddle and Bradley Thompson did a beautiful job rescuing characters in ’Exodus, Part 2.’"

Not that the two didn’t like their own episodes, especially "Dirty Hands," but even then, Saunders added that a lot of credit for the success of that episode was the directorial debut of Wayne Rose.

"He’s been our first assistant director up in Canada since the beginning of the series, and I think he really hit it out of the park directing his first episode for the show," Saunders said.

"Battlestar Galactica" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel.