diff --git a/src/common/coding/decorate.js b/src/common/coding/decorate.js
index 654d6c5..2bd1bfa 100644
--- a/src/common/coding/decorate.js
+++ b/src/common/coding/decorate.js
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ export default function decorate(rootGraph, rootQuery) {
           : { ...plumGraph };
         graph.$val = true;
       } else if (Array.isArray(plumGraph)) {
-        graph = decodeGraph(plumGraph);
+        graph = deValNull(decodeGraph(plumGraph));
       } else {
         throw Error('decorate.unexpected_graph');
       }
@@ -180,6 +180,16 @@ export default function decorate(rootGraph, rootQuery) {
   return result;
 }
 
+// Replace $val: null produced by
+function deValNull(graph) {
+  if (typeof graph !== 'object' || !graph) return graph;
+  if ('$val' in graph && graph.$val !== true) return graph.$val;
+
+  // Important: update graph in-place to avoid losing non-enumerable props.
+  for (const prop in graph) graph[prop] = deValNull(graph[prop]);
+  return graph;
+}
+
 function addPageMeta(graph, args) {
   if (args.$all) {
     Object.assign(graph, { $page: args, $prev: null, $next: null });
diff --git a/src/common/coding/test/decorate.test.js b/src/common/coding/test/decorate.test.js
index b5bc1d5..fd95f8b 100644
--- a/src/common/coding/test/decorate.test.js
+++ b/src/common/coding/test/decorate.test.js
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ describe('val_null', () => {
       ],
       { foo: 1 },
     );
-    expect(result).toEqual({ foo: { bar: { $val: null } } });
+    expect(result).toEqual({ foo: { bar: null } });
   });
 
   test('explicit', () => {