I don't think he was a jerk to her before because she wanted more than he was willing to give--when did he lie to her or treat her badly?

With Bo he was all "lets see other people. Wait you are seeing Lauren? We are done!" And he concealed a shitload of info from her at Tricks request. Not sure if the latter counts as him being a jerk or Trick being a jerk. But he definitely got pissed at ehr for keeping to the terms he set.

when did he lie to her or treat her badly?

He lies to her in the beginning when he says he doesn't want a relationship when it was really that he had orders not to have a relationship with her, and then sets it up so that she walks in on him with another woman.

It bugged me when he kept her at arm's length for so long without telling her why (Trick's orders), and that he used another woman to purposely hurt her rather than letting her in on what was up.

Doesn't he owe her the basic information that he fell out of love with Bo due to magic?

This one bugs too. Ciara so obviously feels threatened by Bo and by her and Dyson's Past. She might not seem so...I don't know...needy, maybe, if she didn't feel like Bo was a threat to her happiness.

Side note: I just caught up with some older eps, and you guys weren't kidding about how well Dyson's actor played Kenzi - he was amazing. I'd doubted his acting abilities up till then 'cuz Dyson's so low-key, but I'm 100% sold on the actor now.

Also: during the body switching episode Kenzie mentioned how "empty" it was inside him. And when Ciara asked him if he loved her, he replied something on the lines of "you have everything I have to give". So he knows he does not love her and is knowingly deceiving her. That makes him an extreme jerk towards Ciara. I gather he was a jerk with the Nymph too. Apparently he is only a jerk with women he is in a serious relationship with.

I have to say, I'm kinda not in Bo's camp--when a guy keeps me at arm's length, he doesn't actually owe me an explanation. If he doesn't want to get serious, that's all I need to know. Anything else is severely gravy.

I do not get Ciara, though. I have not decided what I feel about that, because I can't work out what he's doing--she's not being portrayed as particularly attractive, so maybe it's a bit NOT YOU BO thing? My jury is still out on that--I'm probably just not getting her like I should get her.

He was in love with Ciara when young, and she was dating his best friend. Then she was the property of the king. So he is expected to be in love with her. And he has nothing better to do. Jerk!

And again, with Bo he set terms. She tried to keep them and he got pissed at her for it, and treated her like she had done something wrong. (At that point Bo should have said "later", but hey I'm not defending Bo. I'm just saying Dyson is a jerk too.)

Emotionally Bo is the dimwitted high school cheerleader with big boobs and low self-esteem. Emotionally Dyson is the entitled jerk jock who can treat women decently if they just have casual sex, but becomes emotionally abusive in any serious relationship. (Note: referring to stereotypes here -not actual people. Not saying real cheerleaders and jocks are like that. Saying Bo and Dyson are adult characters who are written with a lot of similarities to those particular stereotypes)

I'm obviously not engaging with this at the right level, because while I think Dyson its bad news relationship wise, I wouldn't call him abusive. Chronically unavailable, but not abusive.

Hmm - maybe abusive is too strong. More than emotionally unavailable. Someone who sets terms and does not live up to them (with Bo). Who does not show basic relationship courtesy, even sex only relationship courtesy - with the Nymph. (When he lost her number and started seeing Bo, he did not even bother to try and track her number down again to tell her it was over.) Who misleads a woman he is not in love with into believing he is in love with her. (Actually the word for that is lying. Telling the literal truth while omitting relevant facts in a way you know will be misunderstood for purposes of deceit is lying, and I think people who do it in a court of law have been convicted of perjury. That is why the oath includes the words "the WHOLE truth".)

That is not abuse in the sense that someone would go to a women's shelter to escape it. But it is a lot more than emotional unavailability. It is causing emotional harm by moving goalposts, hurtful discourtesy, and lying about serious relationship issues. So if not abuse, definitely a jerk.