The show started off with an okay but gimmicky premise, beautiful visuals, and an engaging game of mental cat-and-mouse between main characters Hannibal and Will. But after season 1, the writers of the show seem to clearly struggle with how they've written themselves into a corner. The show increasingly relies on shocking visuals & gore, and tries to continually produce "plot twists" at the expense of suspension of disbelief and the very characterizations of the story's players. The sudden and irrational decisions characters make are hardly if ever earned/warranted, and in an effort to keep Hannibal the cleverest character in the world, the show ends up severely dumbing down the rest of the cast of characters. I love Mads Mikkelsen and his acting as much as the next person, but there's only so much insult to my own intelligence that I will take. If you only care about good acting, visuals, delectable cooking scenes, and gore at the expense of plot and character development, this may be your cup of tea. I did enjoy watching Eddie Izzard in this show. Otherwise, I'd spare your brain cells and time.
And don't even get me started on the extremely stunted female characters in this show. So much frustration & anger. One of the very very few shows I actually gave up on finishing. I was so close, too... I made it to the final season but it was just so insulting to the audience the kind of things the show wanted you to believe.