40 Thoughts I Had While Watching Episode 1 of 'Simone Biles ...

Like most human beings, I am a massive fan of gymnast Simone Biles, so when I heard that her life and road to recovery after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be the subject of a four-part Netflix docuseries, I was thrilled.

Every part of Biles’s life is on the table in Simone Biles Rising, from director Kate Walsh—from the Games to her marriage to her healing process, but the series treats its subject’s life with welcome sensitivity. Read all my thoughts about the first episode of Simone Biles Rising below.

1. Aw, look at Simone accepting an award in her mask! A conscientious girlie.
2. I love Team USA so much it’s embarrassing.
3. OMG, baby Simone!
4. “It wasn’t a question of whether Simone would win a gold, it was a question of how many golds.” Sounds stressful, expectation-wise, but then again, I am quite famously not an elite gymnast.
5. Nobody has done more for sparkly eyeshadow than Simone Biles.
6. She’s also really pulling off the nose stud, I have to say.
7. Ugh, revisiting Tokyo is making me sad.
8. “Something broke.” Ugh! Poor Simone.
9. Aw, romance! Hotel sleepovers with the girlies! I want all of this for her.
10. Simone saying she “hasn’t been in the gym very much” while driving around Houston is a mood, though I suspect that means something very different for her versus, say, me.
11. Hey, it’s Jonathan Owens, Simone’s NFL-player husband!
12. They got married in 2023? How did I miss that?
13. Jonathan wanting to decorate their house with Simone’s Vogue cover and competition leotard is straight-up making me cry.
14. Seriously, if your partner isn’t obsessed with your achievements (no matter what they are), lose them.
15. In love with this commentator who says he’s “running out of words” to describe Simone’s greatness.
16. God, I cannot imagine doing this level of training in a mask.
17. Aw, Tokyo was Simone’s first competition that her parents didn’t attend!
18. Hey, it’s Aly Raisman!
19. If Simone has to revisit what had to be an extremely difficult time in her life in Tokyo, I’m glad she’s at least doing it on a comfy-looking couch.
20. Watching Simone’s mom support her in pulling out of Tokyo is making me cry again.
21. What a legitimately brave thing to do.
22. OMG, I forgot about “the twisties.”
23. I’m going to fight every single anon social-media loser who called Simone a quitter.
24. “You guys can’t even do a cartwheel, so…”
25. Exactly, Simone!
26. Wow, these Team USA COVID masks really tell the story of a very specific summer.
27. Dominque Dawes!!!
28. God, all of these young female gymnasts who were treated terribly by the establishment deserve a ton of back hazard pay, for starters.
29. I’m so glad Simone is finally getting the acclaim she deserves (in this doc, at least) for knowing her limits and modeling genuine self-care.
30. Oh, Christ, now we’re into the Larry Nassar stuff.
31. “After Tokyo, I literally had not one ounce of belief in myself.” Aww!
32. Hearing Simone say that people expect her to be “confident and giggly” is making me so upset. You get the Simone you get, and you don’t get upset!
33. We stan therapy.
34. Watching Simone and Jonathan tease each other while cooking breakfast is the cutest.
35. I love that Jonathan is trying to get professional athletes the mental health they need and deserve! What a sweetie.
36. Aw, they have a dog!
37. Yes, babe, please delete Twitter from your phone.
38. This scene of Simone having her hair braided by her mom is making me (you guessed it) cry a third time.
39. Yurchenko double-pike time!
40. Okay, I need a hundred more hours of this show.