When there are orders on both sides of price why would it go one way more than another? I've never seen a setting where the orders looked like this: in this environment obviously price would go up. Perhaps mapping it out on the chart with something like jigsaw would provide insights.
"do market makers just take price in the direction they want?" It ain't me. (But FWIW, what you've picked up on here has been a reliable 2-3 minute indicator for a good couple of years. I don't know how it's not better recognized. I've touted it, at least. )
I see bids with 0 as size... why would it go up? I would say... if there's more volume on the offer, it's more likely that the price will go down in the near/immediate future. But that doesn't have anything to do with market makers, since they are usually quoting in similar size on the bid and offer...
in this environment obviously price would go sideway because most of the traders are sleeping / having lunch.
In this case there are no buyers, that means sellers control the market, that means price will go up. Put another way, the market makers have no lower orders to do anything with, so they have to use the higher orders.