Kill Stafford in episode 3, shoot the real Williams in episode 6, and then shoot Eisele at the scanner to create a Samantha Cooper torture simulator. Follow me for more angsty tips!
I was working on a potential wiki for Anders and just found out that she’s probably the best crew member out of everyone in the game, professionally speaking.
(Spoilers ahead)
Let’s start with her introduction: when Eisele explains the situation of the mission to the science crew Anders is not afraid to speak up on her doubts, but immediately after she tries to comply and be friendly to her superior Williams.
Anders is open to learning more about her crewmates, even though she’s the new addition they barely know, but the moment she senses that something can be dangerous to the mission she speaks up and even goes against her superiors, as shown in the sample scene: when Cooper opens the door to reveal a room infested with the alien lifeform she gets in front of the whole group and closes it. She goes against her superior even if she’s risking her position, all for the sake of not only the mission but humanity itself.
Anders is the one who lays the final strike on the crew hierarchy - which was already crumbling - by proposing to drug Williams to unmask him since he’s a potential threat to the mission. The difference between her and other authoritative characters (like Stafford and Eisele), is that she cares more about the mission than the hierarchy, and that’s mainly because she is the newest member; she has no idea how her colleagues act like nor how the hierarchy works, in the end she is detached from the cast, but that’s what pushes her to investigate and find out the truth. She doesn’t naturally trust them, she barely knows them.
She can be lawful, but she can turn to illegal ways just for the sake of the mission, making her an objectively great asset to the team, and potentially to humanity as a whole.
While i think everyone (except Williams) has the goal of ensuring the mission’s success, they all fall into their true intentions, even if they don’t want to. Stafford and Eisele prefer to maintain the ship’s hierarchy, Young is still trying to learn how to detach herself from her father’s shadow, Cooper is the one who proposes to send the distress signal and ensure their own safety, and Mitchell apparently does it for glory but it’s clear he also does it for approval. Cernan is the one who’s closest to Anders’ views, with him being the one to advise the players to alert the Andromeda and protect humanity. But even then, he’s usually unable to confront his crewmates because he wants to maintain order and peace (like with Williams, in the sample scene).
Anders is the only one who never turns her back on the mission’s real goal and her goals as a scientist, even after finding out about the clone program.
The character whom the player learns to distrust is actually the most trustworthy one.
Bonus: Anders finding out the truth because she’s detached from the hierarchy is similar to Simms’ situation: the sleep technicians aren’t in a real hierarchy simply because everyone else is asleep, making Simms able to secretly swoop in Corinth’s files and get closer to the truth.
(Cautionary Disclaimer: This is in no way intended as romantic. I should not have to say that, but you never know with tumblr. I am a jaded elder millennial with too much experience in previous toxic fanspaces. I fully believe Cernan is gay and loves his husband in this life and the next)
It's no secret that Laura Eisele is hands down my favorite part of Directive 8020, and one of the relationships in game that I really wish we got to see more of was her mutual respect/friendship with Cernan (who is precious and deserves all the protection).
If Stafford dies especially, Eisele is put in a position of unexpected leadership where she is frequently slighted by the rest of the crew due to them being frustrated with her not being sensitive enough for their tastes (even though if heart choices are selected by the player she actively does try) or just completely steamrolling her like her authority is a joke (cough, Williams, cough). Cernan, however, is the only one to verbally acknowledge her as active commander and per one of his message exchanges with Mitchell holds her in high regard. Eisele in turn also views Cernan as the most levelheaded member of the crew and trusts him to look out for the others on the surface per her own message to him.
Cernan is also the only one who checks on Eisele after if the two of them are forced watch Mitchell burn to death (which is so difficult for her that Eisele has to turn it off and they both sit in horrified shock for a minute after) and is impressively aware that even though Eisele naturally deflects talking about her feelings that she still needs to be told she can talk to him if she wishes to.
This is relevant as later in the game she does start to open up more specifically to him. She runs potential strategy by him as well as her discomfort at seeing the mangled humanoid forms all over the ship, and Cernan is the only one who asks her about how she feels about the clone reveal, either attempting to comfort her or asking her why his original would do it and seeking comfort from her.
The scene where they bond over both being unable to sleep while work is needing done is one of my favorites (even if Williams/Williams mimic interrupt it) as it shows how comfortable they are just chatting in a way Eisele doesn't really do with anyone else on the ship. The sympathetic scientist and the philosopher engineer (as I maintain each character was always intended to show traits of both their paths even if they lean more one way than the other) are also two members of the active crew that would speak English as a second language (Eisele's primary would be Dutch and Cernan's likely Turkish) so their natural friendly pair off in the face of the Stafford/Young/Mitchell family unit and the Anders/Cooper bromance/romance (I won't argue the semantics on this one as I know everyone sees it differently) makes a lot of sense narratively.
It's tragic to me that to really showcase one or the other you have to choose between them because their paths end up parallel and for Cernan to get to do more, Eisele has to die early on.
I suppose it's time to attempt setting up an Eisele and Cernan dual survivor run because they deserve it.
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