All the drama between the characters in Storybrooke would probably seem less important if the real world was bearing down on them.
Or it might give SB a bigger sense of urgency to go back to FTL. They could start worrying about what might happen if the outside world started noticing a town that no one knew existed, and someone came in to investigate and saw something that they shouldn’t have.
As for Barrett being described as “someone with a way of life that he wants to defend”, it gives me the feeling that he might be another morally ambigous character. What kind of lifestyle does this guy live that he feels he needs to fight to keep it?