What's The Deal With The Partisans And Everything Saw Gerrera Mentions In Andor Episode 8?

There will be spoilers for "Andor" Episode VIII – "Narkina 5."

With Saw Gerrera on the poster and in the final trailers for "Andor," it was no surprise that he would show up at some point. Where and when remained a mystery until today. On the distant planet of Segra Milo, a planet no one has heard of before today. When Luthen Rael sat down in his Fondor Haulcraft and called for coordinates to Segra Milo, we all wondered where he could be going and who he could be seeing.

When Saw Gerrera and his partisans were on the other side, it was obvious we would get another look at one of the most important rebel groups in the galaxy at this moment of time. Saw's Partisans were known for their brutality and merciless methods, but that also left them in the cold and isolated from other groups that might share their aims.

Luthen Rael puts assets together for success. That's exactly what he did with Cassian Andor and Vel with the rebels on Aldhani, why wouldn't he try the same thing with Saw Gerrera and his Partisans?

As he negotiates with Saw and his brand of anarchy, he finds that Saw is not much of a team player. This is something that bites the Rebellion in the future when Saw causes trouble and draws undue attention to the Rebellion with his brutal, anarchist methods. Saw scoffs at Luthen's suggestion that they work with Anto Kreegyr, but why?

Saw claims Kreegyr is a Separatist. For those who know anything about Saw Gerrera's history, we know that Saw got his start fighting against Separatists on Onderon, as documented on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." That's where he lost his sister, Steela, in the fighting, and hardened his resolve against oppressive systems. But who were the other folks he talked about, those that lacked the clarity of purpose he did?

Anto Kreegyr was a Separatist during the Clone Wars and trying to get away from the tenets of the Old Republic entirely. Saw mentions Maya Pei and that they're a neo-Republican. That's a character we don't know anything about, but with context clues, we can guess that a neo-Republican has the same sort of philosophy as a neoliberal in current American politics, someone who wants all the nice things provided by well-run government but without the well-run government. The Ghorman Front and the Partisan Alliance are both Sectorists. We wrote about the Ghormans here, and although Saw runs the Partisans, the Partisan Alliance appears to be something new. As for as Sectorists, in the "Star Wars" way of talking, the Imperial Security Bureau has chopped up the galaxy into arbitrary sectors from which to work, it stands to reason the folks on the other side would like that method, too.

The most interesting thought he puts forward are the Human cultists who are galaxy partitionists, which seems to imply segmenting the galaxy off in chunks based on race.

Saw is the only one with "clarity of purpose" and that's to eliminate the Empire.

What more do they need?

New episodes of "Andor" air on Wednesdays on Disney+.