Revert "don't attempt to UTF-8-decode binary values (#98)"

[rolandwalker]

Description

This reverts commit 15519e2.

Let's only do this when it is configurable.

xref #98 .

Checklist

• I've added this contribution to the CHANGELOG.
• I've added my name to the AUTHORS file (or it's already there).
• I installed pre-commit hooks (pip install pre-commit && pre-commit install), and ran black on my code.
• Please squash merge this pull request (uncheck if you'd like us to merge as multiple commits)